Western Blogs

Many of our readers will remember Sam Chaltain’s article, “Ways of Seeing (and of Being Seen): Visibility in Schools,” that we published in our winter 2008 issue of the journal on the theme, “Schooling as if Democracy Matters.” Sam is the National Director for the Forum for Education & Democracy. In his article, he describes the current state of invisibility so many students experience in our schools and lays the groundwork for rethinking the role of school leadership. “The central challenge in any organizational culture," writes Chaltain, "is to help people become more aware of the inner place from which they operate." Chaltain has now developed his ideas further in a new book, American Schools: The Art of Creating a Democratic Learning Community, published by Rowman & Littlefield Education and featuring a foreword from Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. If you are interested in reviewing this book for a future issue of our journal, please contact CEP-eJournal@wwu.edu We are thinking about experimenting with a new video review format. If you have the expertise and would like to try this new format, let us know.


Below are some of the advance reviews of the book:


"Our country's ongoing commitment to democratic principles can only be actualized if democracy lives in our public schools. This book reveals how schools can help students and teachers see and hear one another, create a strong community, and develop the sensibilities and skills for democratic life. It provides a framework for democratic leadership that is accessible, actionable, and grounded in good pedagogy."—Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education, Stanford University

"Sam Chaltain expects schools to do more than merely give their students knowledge of the world. By helping them to make themselves known to the world, he believes that they will be able to meet the democratic goal of taking responsibility for it. This book offers ideas and practical examples."—Ted Sizer, founder, Coalition of Essential Schools and former Dean of Harvard Graduate School of Education

"A powerful concept provides the organizing theme of this refreshing book: our nation's school leaders must strike the right balance between freedom and structure in order to create healthy, high-functioning learning environments. But there is a pervasive, more subtle one that slips along with the turning of the pages: the curriculum provides knowledge and skills relevant to daily functioning, but the persona of the teacher powerfully shapes the becoming of each unique being."—John Goodlad, president, Institute for Educational Inquiry

"Sam Chaltain has written a provocative, daring book, one that tangles with how best to create community and tolerance within the walls of a school. Chaltain is on to something - that an understanding of freedom is essential to creating active, engaged citizens, and that supporting individual freedoms need not negate an orderly, structured environment. I urge you to read American Schools."—Alex Kotlowitz, author of There Are No Children Here

"I want to thank Sam Chaltain for writing this book. I wish I had the guidance of his ideas when my colleagues and I created our own network of public schools. Sam explains through personal stories and case studies how the visible can become visible, how the disengaged can become engaged, and how structure and freedom can complete a well-rounded education. Sam shows education leaders how student achievements can be enhanced, how teachers can be supported to use their talents and interests to learn from one another, and how the larger community of parents and citizens can be mobilized to become part of the ongoing creation of powerful schools. What separates this book from others on school leadership is its clear set of doable practice focused relentlessly on the public purpose of schools. Sam is a much talented writer; lyrical in his descriptions, humorous in his candor, and greatly respectful of educators who try each day to be true to their larger calling."—Carl Glickman, professor at the University of Georgia

There is a reason the talented actor Nicolas Cage has taken such stupid roles in such stupid movies over the past few years. Apparently he's broke. According to CNN: "Nicolas Cage brought about his own financial ruin with a spending spree that included two castles, 15 palatial homes, a flotilla of yachts and a squadron of Rolls Royces." Poor baby.

We spoke with Keizer AA Meats this week and it looks like they'll be out to butcher our steers on December 8th. We approach this day with mixed feelings, because above all we do love our animals and make every effort to ensure they are happy and healthy. Douglas Fir of Seven Trees was conceived here, born here, and will end his life here. He is the only offspring of a purebred Dexter cow, Stella who we no longer own, and it is doubtful as long as we both must work fulltime off farm that we'll have another milk cow again soon. When Douglas and Buddy are gone it will not just be the end of their lives, it ends a cycle here at the farm that will not be repeated again for a long while. It is only appropriate as we close this circle that we make the absolute most of these animals to honor their sacrifice that we may eat meat that we raised with a considerable effort on our own land.

We are keeping Douglas's hide and will be quickly transporting it to Quil Ceda Leather Company in Marysville, Washington where it will be tanned with hair on. We are also thinking of the other products of home butchered animals to make that most people these days never consider, let alone eat or make any more.
One of these is blood sausage or black pudding as it is known in the UK, Blutwurst [Germany], or Boudin Noir [France]. Essentially it is a sausage made with blood cooked with regional fillers like barley, heavy cream, onion, potato, bread, fat, suet or some variation of these items, and then placed in casings to be grilled or boiled in skin and eaten. We'll collect a gallon or two of blood from one of the steers at butcher in a sterile stainless milk pail so we can try making this sausage.
Beef Blood Sausage 1# Leaf Lard10# Onions, diced1 quart heavy creamSalt to tastePepper to taste1 Tbsp Pate spice1/2 gallon beef bloodPork casings
Nordic cultures, Swedes, Finns, etc. aso make something that is known in Swedish as Blodplattar or blood pancakes - click the link for recipe. These are a savory pancake with fresh blood as one of the main ingredients, and are traditionally eaten with lingonberry jam.

We will also keep the tongues, liver, heart, bones for soup, and whatever else we can for either our consumption or to stew up as homemade dog food, which we pressure can and the dogs adore.
While it is rather unsusual for most people to have a hand in the slaughter of the meat they consume these days, it is something we felt it was very important to do. There was no factory in the raising of our meat. Our cattle have lived good lives, they frolicked in the sun, slept in our pastures of green grass, ate until their bellies were full, had shade and shelter from wind/rain/snow, and were treated each day with care and dignity. We will honor all they gave us in sustenance and the pleasure of knowing the food we eat.

When I was growing up in Chicago and Oak Park one of the most popular blues bands was the Siegal/Schwall band, a band we lived out many high school concerts with. Corky Siegal of course went on to some notoriety while Jim Schwall, who played a beautiful miked acoustic Gibson, disappeared. It was with great pleasure that I found this re-union at one of our neighborhood clubs, Fitzgeralds, also featuring the great Sammy Lay (luv those glasses!). Enjoy.

I know, when you are looking for a stress-buster, government information is not the first thing that comes to mind. But try this website. Unfortunately it only works during daylight hours on the East Coast.

In our first issue of the journal, Nadine Strossen, the former president of the American Civil Liberties Union shared the following concern with our readers in her article, ” Keeping The Constitution Inside The Schoolhouse Gate--Students' Rights Thirty Years After Tinker V. Des Moines Independent Community School District.”

She wrote:

“Most importantly, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child,[7] which the United Nations General Assembly adopted unanimously in 1989, broke all records as both the most rapidly ratified and the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history.[8] Out of all 193 nation-states in the world, only two have not ratified this convention.[9] It recognizes broad rights for minors….
“Alas, though, of the two countries in the entire world that have not ratified this convention, one is our very own United States.[11] The only other country that is our companion in this tiny category of non-ratifiers is Somalia.[12] And that is only because Somalia does not have an internationally recognized government, so it is literally unable to ratify-an excuse that is not available to the United States![13] The United States Government's refusal to ratify this international convention protecting minors' and students' rights in part reflects our country's longstanding general isolationism concerning international law.[14] But it also reflects the recent subversion of young people's dignity and rights throughout our domestic political and legal systems.[15]”


This Friday, November 20th, will mark the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The United States has still not ratified this treaty in which the world community recognized the universal human rights and protection needs of children. During his presidential campaign, President Obama recognized the need to review our treaties in order to ensure that the United States resumes its role of global leadership in human rights. This Friday, on its 20th anniversary, would be a good day for the Senate to finally ratify the treaty. (It had been signed by President Clinton in 1995 but never ratified by the Senate)

For more information on the Convention on the Rights of the Child , go to Unicef website.





Understanding the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Not that you asked, but I’ve decided to tell you about my (roughly) five favorite books about Middle Eastern archaeology. I’m just a buff in the field, but I recently read a terrific book and decided to blurb/blog (blurg?) about it and four other faves. In no particular order…

The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of our oldest literary masterpieces. With its themes of quests for immortality and concerns about the proper way to live as a king (or a person) it is still fascinating.

It is easy to forget that the Epic was lost to memory for millennium. David Damrosch has constructed his The Buried Book, as he notes, like an archaeological dig. It begins with the most recent layer, and moves farther back in time.

The first chapter is about George Smith, an Englishmen with a unique ability to translate ancient texts. A printer by trade, he used to visit the British Museum on his lunch hours, and contrary to the stereotype of Victorian England, the scholars recognized this lower class tradesman for the find he was. He was able to bring the ancient tale of Gilgamesh into modern language and, in 1872, discovered one of its most greatest attractions: a story of the world flood with unmistakeable parallels to the one in Genesis.

Next Damrosch tells the story of Hormuzd Rassam who discovered the texts but was cheated of some of his fame because of English prejudice against foreigners – surely he was no more than the hired digmaster, working for some proper British supervisor!

The book then covers what we know about the writing of the Epic, which is rather surprisingly much – even including the name of the scribe who is credited with putting the final version together. Even more amazingly, while we only have two thirds of the text of this final work, we have some of the Sumerian poems from which the Assyrian version was compiled – which is as if we had some of the early texts Homer had used to compose the Illiad.

Finally Damrosch shows us what can be glimpsed through the veils of time about the historic person Gilgamesh – or more properly Bilgamesh. Take this little tidbit. One ancient scribe compiled a list of all the kings who had ruled in Sumeria. His collection of the monarchs of the city of Uruk can be divided into recent historical figures (with reigns from 6 years to a few decades) and ancient mythical figures (who supposedly ruled for thousands of years each).

These two groups are neatly separated by a king who supposedly ruled for 126 years. I don’t think you need to be a scholar to speculate: “this one isn’t completely a myth. They knew something about him but he was so legendary that they had to credit him with a century of rule to account for everything he supposedly accomplished.” As you may have guessed, that king was Bilgamesh.

The Buried Book is great fun.

According to WWU’s AS Review, it’s a good time to talk about transportation — and they are correct! There are a few things that I want to share with you today, lurkers, so listen up!

First of all, AJ and I are in the AS Review! The article is concerning ways that students can get home over the holidays. You probably know a lot about that already if you’ve been reading this blog, but you still might want to check it out.

Okay, enough self-promotion! Time to get serious. There is another article in the AS Review that discusses the ways in which the WTA is changing — pretty important stuff! Like all of us, the WTA is feeling the strain of these tough financial times and the board of directors is currently grappling with budget cut options. One option is to cut service by 10%, with the affected routes determined by ridership. Since they’d still be “in the red”, as the AS Review puts it, the other option is to make those service cuts as well as discontinue Sunday service.

If you think like I do, you’re probably saying: “NOOOOO! I need to be able to go places on Sundays!” It’s a little more complicated than that, though — WTA needs to be able to afford to fill essential positions, pay their employees fair wages, and provide them with reasonable benefits. Since their staff is stretched thin, canceling Sunday service would be fairer to the workers who make the bus system we know and love possible. Though the service changes (if they’re approved) won’t take place until June 2010, you can make your voice heard at the public hearing this week, with whatever you feel should be done. As stated on the WTA’s Rider Alert page, the hearing will take place at 8:00am on Thursday, November 19th at Whatcom County Council Chambers (311 Grand Ave, 98226).

Oh yeah, and there was a power outtage this morning. Heh.

And another thing — Amtrak trains going out of Bellingham the day before Thanksgiving are selling out fast! Get on it if you want to get out of town that day.

I still find myself intrigued and disturbed by 1984, and have dog-eared so many pages (it's a library book - my bad!) that I'm going to buy a copy. The text has cast a filter on my news consumption (and even sports viewing!) lately, and in light of the apparent continuation of our "little" wars in Afghanistan and Iraq I'll share this quote:
"Goods must be produced, but they need not be distributed. And in practice the only way of achieving this is by continual warfare. The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labor. War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence in the long run, too intelligent. (I'm not sure about that -- fat and complacent might be more like it.) Even when weapons are not actually destroyed, their manufacture is still a convenient way of expending labor power without producing anything that can be consumed." Are we on the path of continuous warfare? And let's not forget that we are the largest weapons producing nation in the world, a fact that should make any sane person a subversive. Along with this continual warfare is all the pomp and jingoism and choreographed mourning for the killed soldiers, who gave their lives for their country. Don't bother asking why the f*ck we're over there anyway.
The other insight I picked up from 1984 was how the populace needs to be kept joyless. Anger, pain, cynicism, bullying, violence and fear are all legitimate emotions or psychological states because of their ease of manipulation. The prevalence of these negative energies, or the condition of cynicism, which is so prevalent in most media, has caused the poet Robert Hass (and many others in different ways) to state that merely "Feeling human is a useful form of political subversion."

Several good snacking suggestions.

It was over a year ago that I first wrote about Mambo Italiano Cafe. At that time I was writing about their fabulous vegan pizza and their tasty mixed greens salad, and I closed the post by promising to write more about their vegan options "soon." Now here I am, fourteen months later, finally getting back to that promise.
Now I must explain that this is not because I have not eaten at Mambo's during the past year--on the contrary, I have consumed my fair share of pizza and salad during this time. That's the thing, I am afraid. I have eaten pizza and salad every time I have gone there since I first wrote that first post.


Some of you may recall my earlier vegan sausage sandwich from Pastazza obsession; I am afraid this is a similar situation--I tend to get into happy food ruts and order the same thing over and over from many of my favorite places. So the reason I have not written sooner is not because I have not eaten there, but rather because I had to make a conscious effort to order something besides my favorite pizza.

Last week we had a happy occasion to celebrate and it was finally the perfect time for me to be adventurous and try something new. So I ordered the completely vegan "Rigatoni Primavera," described simply on their menu as "seasonal sauteed vegetables" cooked in a garlic, white wine, and olive oil sauce, with fresh basil.


I definitely did not regret stepping outside of my pizza comfort zone because this pasta dish was absolutely delicious. Zucchini, mushrooms, red peppers, artichoke hearts, and everything cooked to perfection.

One change thing that has changed since I first wrote about Mambo's is that they now have a fabulous website. It is one of the better local restaurant websites I have seen. They even have a great commercial that gives you a little taste of the place. One thing that has not changed since I first wrote about Mambo's is how much I still love the atmosphere of this place. The service remains consistently wonderful, as does the food. So next time you are in Fairhaven trying to decide where to go to dinner, may I recommend Mambo Italiano Cafe?

I realized today that if I was to go through all of my home-cooking-related blog posts, a rather high percentage of them would be about brunch and lazy weekend mornings. I think many vegans share my love of the comfort breakfast/brunch. Luckily, it is something my husband also shares with me. I remember when we first started dating, a mutual friend of ours took me aside and said, "One thing you have to know about Doug is that he absolutely loves breakfast." This was crucial information that I was glad to find out about early in our relationship.

So I have to admit that my breakfast-loving-husband is more than half my inspiration when it comes to my weekend breakfast-themed cooking endeavors. This morning I woke up determined to try something altogether new, and behold, my "eggs" benedict was born. Granted, this took a little while to cook and the kitchen was a bit of a mess afterwards, but it was fun to make and tasty to eat.

The biscuits are the "Easy biscuits" from Sarah Kramer's cookbooks (Preheat oven to 450. In large bowl sift together 2 cups flour, 3 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp salt. Cut in 1/4 cup vegan margarine and 1 cup sour milk, which is 1 cup soy milk mixed with 1 teaspoon cider vinegar. Divide dough into six portions and bake for 12-18 minutes.) I usually use more like a tablespoon of cider vinegar in the soymilk because to me it is a little more reminiscent of that buttermilk flavor.

The eggs are the basic omelette recipe from the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen, only with 1 tspn kala namak added to the mix and cooked in smaller round portions fried-egg style (in a non-stick pan with non-stick spray). The sausage was a modification of Felicity's "savoury veggie burger," only with "sausage" type seasoning ( sage, coriander, marjoram, etc). The Hollandaise Sauce was from Isa's Vegan Brunch and it was sooo yummy. So yummy that we ate too much and had to brave the cold and go on an afternoon walk to work some of it off. All-in-all, not a bad way to spend a Saturday.

I purchased Microsoft Office 2007 via The Ultimate Steal last winter. The software is provided as a download through Digital River – but it is available for only 30 days after making the purchase.

So what happens if you lose your backup?

The order confirmation email reads:

DOWNLOADABLE PRODUCTS
Downloadable products may be accessed by looking up your order. When the order summary appears, click on the Download link next to the product name.

LOOKING UP YOUR ORDER
Go to http://store.digitalriver.com/store/msshus/DisplayHelpPage. You may also find other helpful information on this page.

Sounds promising. After signing in, it even displays a hopeful looking download button:

but clicking it returns the following:

Sorry,

It is too late to download this file. You were allowed to download within 30 days.

If you have any questions, please contact Digital River Customer Service at CustomerServices@digitalriver.com.

Fortunately, you don’t have to use this particular installer. You can use your license key to convert a trial version of Office 2007 to a full version. You can freely download the trial version from here:

http://msft-dnl.digitalrivercontent.net/msoffice/pub/X12-30307/X12-30307.exe

Once installed, the first thing it does is ask you for a product key. Yours is included in your order confirmation email.

If you haven’t kept that email, I think you’re out of luck.

Is a stunning book and one that doubtfully would be published today, with it's thin plot line, didactics, and complex psychological, philosophical and political descriptions, But it's a book everyone in America should read (again) and discuss in schools, cafes, bars, talk radio and news shows, because it still pertains to US. To some extent we have become the people of this book.
But, that's not what I had in mind with this post. What I had in mind was to transcribe this beautiful passage about a bird singing, overheard by Winston and Julia after they had first stolen away into the country and illicitly made love:"A thrush alighted on a bough not five meters away, almost at the level of their faces. Perhaps it had not seen them. It was in the sun, they in the shade. It spread out its wings, fitted them carefully into place again, ducked its head for a moment, as though making a sort of obeisance to the sun, and then began to pour forth a torrent of song. In the afternoon hush the volume of sound was startling. Winston and Julia clung together, fascinated. The music went on, minute after minute, with astonishing variations, never once repeating itself, almost as if the bird were deliberately showing off its virtuosity. Sometimes it stopped for a few seconds, spread out and resettled its wings, then swelled its speckled breast and again burst into song. Winston watched it with a sort of vague reverence. For whom, for what, was the bird singing? No mate, no rival was watching it. What made it sit at the edge of the lonely wood and pour its music into nothingness?"

http://forums.allaboutjazz.com/showthread.php?t=38347

Hey lurkers! Have any of you heard of the new park that just opened in Birch Bay? It’s called Point Whitehorn Marine Reserve, and it is beautiful.

 

I went on a little adventure there today with a friend, and it was probably the most gorgeous park I’ve been to in the county. I’m almost afraid to blog about it because it’s so peaceful and pristine. You know the epic forests in films like Lord of the Rings — the kind that metal bands like to take black and white photographs of to use for album covers? Imagine a little slice of a forest like that tenderly woven into the landscape of a lovely corner of Birch Bay, complete with a conveniently paved trail and absolutely stunning lookout points.  At the end of the (quite short) trail, hikers can take a brief trek down to the tidal flats below, which I cannot recommend enough!

This was the perfect adventure for a sunny autumn afternoon, and an ideal trail for those who want to be enveloped by nature’s enchantments without having to commit to a session of hardcore hiking (I include myself in that category, though I enjoy a good hike sometimes). The water below was clear and magnificent, perfectly reflecting a fiery sunset… this is the stuff dreams are made of, lurkers.

 

So you may be wondering, “How do I get there if it’s all the way out in Blaine?” The easiest way to is carpool to the convenient parking area and go from there. If you want to get there using alternative transit, WTA’s Bus 55 can drop you off a few miles from the park. It’s probably best to bike out from there, but it could be a really lovely walk if you’re up for it! If you’re 55-ing it, you’ll want to go early in the day to have enough time to explore before the bus stops running. More specific directions can be found at the park’s homepage.

All I have to say is, thank you Whatcom County Parks Department for my new favorite adventure destination!

One thing that continually irks me is the ridiculousness of the 21 year-old drinking age. Shit, even Canada knows better than that! Rethinking the current drinking age is something that has come up but hasn't (yet) received national attention. A few hundred college presidents have signed a statement saying, essentially, that the current system isn't working and that it needs to be revisited. Check out the Amethyst Initiative and ChooseResponsibility.org.




So I took a few minutes and came up with a few points (originally posted here) that I feel are pretty valid:


The argument that "18yr olds can't make smart decisions to save their lives" is not valid from a civil rights standpoint.

If we're taking 18 as the legal age of "adulthood" where one is legally responsible for his or her own actions then the current drinking age is a blatant violation of the rights of 18-20yr olds. How can we logically deny rights to minors when they are still required to hold complete legal autonomy and responsibility?


The thought that "underagers just want to lower the drinking age so they can binge drink" is ridiculous.
Another Western student wrote: "How many poeple ... are thinking they want to be legally able to go buy a beer once in a while. Most [minors] want it to be legal so they can kill brain cells." Uh. Lies? It would be incredibly easy for me, as a minor, to get a half-gallon of hard alcohol, head out to a party on Friday, start chugging, and not remember what happened when I woke up Saturday morning. In fact, I bet you can find a thousand or so underage Bellinghamsters that do this weekly. 
The shitty thing? I can binge drink easy. If I want to have a drink with dinner at a restaurant then I'm S.O.L.
The only reason I personally want the drinking age lowered is so that I can have a pint of micro-brew at Boundary Bay along with my grilled portabellos.


"Lowering the drinking age would increase consumption of alcohol in the 18-20yr old population" might be true...

...but any increase would be in the form of responsible, public drinking like going out to a bar or having an alcoholic drink at a restaurant (both activities that can be easily supervised and controlled, unlike underage partying). The level of "party drinking" or binge drinking in minors is already pretty high and minors know how and where to get alcohol from. Making it easy for minors to obtain alcohol won't increase binge drinking, they/we already seem to do a good amount of that.




In the college setting, especially on-campus, the problems of the drinking age are only magnified.

Even after the first few weeks underage students learn that drinking on campus will get them in some deep s**t. Does this enforcement of the drinking age reduce consumption in minors like it is intended to? Hell no. It just throws them into riskier and more dangerous settings! Minors leave campus, go to parties where binge drinking (5+ drinks in a night) in encouraged, if not required. Returning to campus at the end of the night, instead of staying the night in a possibly risky setting, can STILL get students in trouble since public universities are still required to uphold and enforce state and federal laws. The result? Students are encouraged to sleep off-campus in (possibly) unfamiliar and relatively unsafe locations. Who is this supposed to benefit, again?

Myth: Letting minors drink is encouraging dangerous behavior.

Another student wrote, "I don't even understand why all you teenagers are so anxious to start drinking. Don't they teach you about the dangers of drinking in high school... While you’re at it, why don't you have unprotected sex with many partners so you can have the responsibility of caring for a child and dealing with STD's if you think your so f***ing grown up." This made me laugh and might be the worst argument for keeping the 21yr drinking age. It is not the governments job to "protect" the population from themselves. This argument suggests that we outlaw unprotected sex, criminalize the smoking of tobacco, reenact prohibition, enforce mandatory mass-transit to keep bad drivers off the road so they can't kill themselves, and require a 10pm bedtime so that nobody suffers from unhealthy sleep deprivation. Anyone over 18 is legally an adult and SHOULD NOT be withheld any rights given to the 'of-age' population.


I am definitely open to counter arguments, here. I do feel that 18 is kind of young as I think it will have the trickle-effect and increase availability of alcohol to high schoolers, but on the other hand I strongly believe that the civil rights of the 18-20yr old population are being blatantly violated. Your thoughts?

One thing that continually irks me is the ridiculousness of the 21 year-old drinking age. Shit, even Canada knows better than that! Rethinking the current drinking age is something that has come up but hasn't (yet) received national attention. A few hundred college presidents have signed a statement saying, essentially, that the current system isn't working and that it needs to be revisited. Check out the Amethyst Initiative and ChooseResponsibility.org.




So I took a few minutes and came up with a few points (originally posted here) that I feel are pretty valid:


The argument that "18yr olds can't make smart decisions to save their lives" is not valid from a civil rights standpoint.

If we're taking 18 as the legal age of "adulthood" where one is legally responsible for his or her own actions then the current drinking age is a blatant violation of the rights of 18-20yr olds. How can we logically deny rights to minors when they are still required to hold complete legal autonomy and responsibility?


The thought that "underagers just want to lower the drinking age so they can binge drink" is ridiculous.
Another Western student wrote: "How many poeple ... are thinking they want to be legally able to go buy a beer once in a while. Most [minors] want it to be legal so they can kill brain cells." Uh. Lies? It would be incredibly easy for me, as a minor, to get a half-gallon of hard alcohol, head out to a party on Friday, start chugging, and not remember what happened when I woke up Saturday morning. In fact, I bet you can find a thousand or so underage Bellinghamsters that do this weekly. 
The shitty thing? I can binge drink easy. If I want to have a drink with dinner at a restaurant then I'm S.O.L.
The only reason I personally want the drinking age lowered is so that I can have a pint of micro-brew at Boundary Bay along with my grilled portabellos.


"Lowering the drinking age would increase consumption of alcohol in the 18-20yr old population" might be true...

...but any increase would be in the form of responsible, public drinking like going out to a bar or having an alcoholic drink at a restaurant (both activities that can be easily supervised and controlled, unlike underage partying). The level of "party drinking" or binge drinking in minors is already pretty high and minors know how and where to get alcohol from. Making it easy for minors to obtain alcohol won't increase binge drinking, they/we already seem to do a good amount of that.




In the college setting, especially on-campus, the problems of the drinking age are only magnified.

Even after the first few weeks underage students learn that drinking on campus will get them in some deep s**t. Does this enforcement of the drinking age reduce consumption in minors like it is intended to? Hell no. It just throws them into riskier and more dangerous settings! Minors leave campus, go to parties where binge drinking (5+ drinks in a night) in encouraged, if not required. Returning to campus at the end of the night, instead of staying the night in a possibly risky setting, can STILL get students in trouble since public universities are still required to uphold and enforce state and federal laws. The result? Students are encouraged to sleep off-campus in (possibly) unfamiliar and relatively unsafe locations. Who is this supposed to benefit, again?

Myth: Letting minors drink is encouraging dangerous behavior.

Another student wrote, "I don't even understand why all you teenagers are so anxious to start drinking. Don't they teach you about the dangers of drinking in high school... While you’re at it, why don't you have unprotected sex with many partners so you can have the responsibility of caring for a child and dealing with STD's if you think your so f***ing grown up." This made me laugh and might be the worst argument for keeping the 21yr drinking age. It is not the governments job to "protect" the population from themselves. This argument suggests that we outlaw unprotected sex, criminalize the smoking of tobacco, reenact prohibition, enforce mandatory mass-transit to keep bad drivers off the road so they can't kill themselves, and require a 10pm bedtime so that nobody suffers from unhealthy sleep deprivation. Anyone over 18 is legally an adult and SHOULD NOT be withheld any rights given to the 'of-age' population.


I am definitely open to counter arguments, here. I do feel that 18 is kind of young as I think it will have the trickle-effect and increase availability of alcohol to high schoolers, but on the other hand I strongly believe that the civil rights of the 18-20yr old population are being blatantly violated. Your thoughts?

We took advantage of the one nice day this week to get our garlic in the ground. In the PNW, mid-Oct to mid-Nov is the time to plant.
The ground is still soft and lush, and we added quite a lot of nearly finished compost to it. Garlic likes to set down roots before the weather really turns, and it's ready to start growing as soon as the days get longer in the spring.
By next July, the 329 cloves we planted will be ready for harvest. This year we're planting Chesnok Red, German Porcelain, and some generic white variety from California.
Stewart must have learned from Gemini! He's got the drive-thru window figured out.
These Sweet Dumpling delicata squash are cute AND tasty! What's not to like?

Even better with teriyaki-grilled London broil and nettle-wild mushroom brown rice. The shroom is our own Prince that we dried last year. He didn't show up this year, but hopefully he'll return soon.

This kettle of cow parts doesn't look too tasty as is, but chopped, sauteed, mixed with carrots, kale and some odds & ends from the freezer.....
.....it makes dog food! And look at our spiffy new pressure canner! An All American #921 cast aluminum and ready for battle....

I seem to be in an archaeological mood lately, so here is a video of the best archeologically-themed song in the history of the world being performed by its composer, Michael Peter Smith, with Anne Hills. If you aren't familiar with Smith, he is best known for writing "The Dutchman," which has been recorded by practically everybody.

And by the way, Smith wrote the second best archeologically-themed song, too.