Latest Reads

Shooter by Walter Dean Meyers is a book intended for a teen/young adult audience. It's a fast read (one day), but I certainly wouldn't recommend for anyone under 15. It's a good example of 'If you don't stand for something you'll certainly fall for anything.' There's a variety of examples of bad parenting and teens feeling alienated from peers. Leonard, one of the leading characters, who is actually deceased, is a real head-case with propensity for violence. I was on edge waiting for Cameron or Carla to truly stand up to him, but even when they did it was short lived. I'd like a follow up to see what actually happens to Cameron after this tragedy. Does he grow a spine? Can he improve his relationship with his parents? Would he continue to attend the same school? How does he explain his complete lack of affect? The book is a tragedy in the traditional sense. All the characters are flawed and there is no happy ending.


Life After Genius by M. Ann Jacoby is about Theodore Mead Fegley and his struggle to fit in somewhere despite his incredibly high I.Q. and his always being considerably younger than his peers. The book is written with Fegley's college graduation as the pinacle and we get to see all major events before and after his entering college. Mead is not likable. Although he becomes more so as he tries to mend his relationship with his Aunt and Uncle and finally stands up to his mother (back off lady, sheesh!). You think he's losing his mind, or you are, as things progress because he starts to hallucinate a bit. I liked all the math references and his trip to Bell Labs (Yea New Jersey!). You wouldn't need to know any math to understand Fegley's obsession. Due to some adult situations I would not recommend for under 17.

New Dog

Here's our new dog, Ozzie. He's a complete love. We found him at the Middletown Humane Society, which was a great location. They had a lot of great animals including chickens, rabbits, birds, reptiles, cats and dogs. Ozzie and his sister, Ruby, had been surrendered by a family who no longer had time to care for them. I appreciate what this family did, because Ozzie and Ruby were so sweet you could tell they had been truly cared for. He sleeps with his belly to the sky and loves to carry his bone around. He's great on the leash, nice to everyone he meets, and is great with Frank. He's a nice new addition to our family.

Unconditional Love

I used to be a real hot-head when I was younger. Days were marked by ridiculous arguments, feelings of betrayal, outrage, and an occasional fistfight (over a boy, of all things!). I'm such a different person now I can barely remember the absurd justifications I had to behave in such manner. I would like to say that I changed as a result of getting older, but I have met a lot of people, older than me, who still live life this way. They nurse hurt feelings and plan ways of exacting revenge. This isn't a good way to live, it's not the path to happiness, I've never met anyone who behaves this way and is content.

The biggest changing factor in my life has been that I've come to know the Lord. Unconditional love only comes through Him. Once you learn what it looks like, how it feels and some minimal skills in self restraint you can begin to treat others with unconditional love too. Through this process people can begin to truly feel content and happy, under any circumstance.

When you rely on people to meet your needs you will be sorely disappointed. Only God can love you unconditionally and fill you to overflowing that you can share that love with those around you. Neighbors, coworkers, family, spouses, children, are all going to say or do something at some point that will cause you emotional pain or distress. If you don't have Jesus you're going to take those things to heart, but there's another way! Love them. You don't need to analyze anyone's thoughts or actions, you don't need to question motives or plan your next move. Just love them, truly, and pray that God will be with you to help you.

Amazing Challenge

A few months ago I was listening to NPR in the car and they were interviewing a woman who was visually impaired and had a PhD in physics. It was remarkable to hear the struggles she went through to learn math and physics, which you can imagine involves a lot of visual aids.

As God would have it, I now have a visually impaired student in one of my Algebra classes. I've been searching for resources, but there is very little available for sighted people. I found a great web site in Texas by a woman named Susan A. Osterhaus. I've spent quite a bit of time searching her site just trying to get a handle on what sort of training I would need in order to work with a visually impaired student. It seems there are two different forms of tactile learning for the blind, English Braille, which is used for reading and writing words, and The Nemeth Code, which is used for math type learning. I haven't yet been able to locate any proper training in New York, but I will continue to search.