Comments (0) I have to add a couple of books this week, even though the week is half over.
The first one is a children’s novel, called The Girl Who Could Fly
Next up, is If You Have to Cry, Go Outside: And Other Things Your Mother Never Told You
Karl Rove, who (big surprise) has a competitive streak, had a contest with George W. Bush to see who could read the most books. They recorded the number of books, as well as the number of pages, on a card. Six months into 2008, Bush had read 91 and Rove had read 93. Now really – 91 books in six months? This number makes sense for student or a book reviewer, and might work if you are a taxi driver or a computer tech (where you can read while programs load, etc.), or if you work in a calling center and have some down time. But when you are supposed to be running a country, managing a war, etc., you might want to rethink your priorities if you are reading that many books! I have to admit that I really want to see the list – what was he reading? Did he remember anything he read? Or, maybe he was just skimming the books.
I almost had to put this book down several times last night, but I dutifully made it through chapters 8 and 9. The arrogance of these people. And if people don’t follow the “party line” they are criticized, even when the party line is wrong! Warning – political rant ahead, unavoidable: I hear people complaining about illegal immigration all the time. Latimer distills the Republican party line to the following, “Many conservatives welcome immigrants who come to this country, stand in line, and play by the rules.” This thinking might sound fair and logical, but it reflects an ignorance, willful or otherwise, of history – many of the illegal immigrants we are complaining about (let’s face it – the ones from Mexico) are following unwritten rules that have been in place for generations, and are part of the way our country is run. And that leaves out a host of other reasons why this thinking is completely wrong (globalization, colonialization, etc.).
Latimer also says, of environmental policy, “The small but merry band of conservatives it the White House–who were suspicious of climate change and the movement behind it–were opposed to any shift in our policy.” What about the science behind it? He criticizes the Council on Environmental Quality and suggests that they are not useful to Republicans. Don’t these people have children that they worry about? It is a left-leaning position (therefore a bad one) to force businesses to limit CO2 emissions? That’s willful ignorance and arrogance at its finest.
And he doesn’t like President Jimmy Carter at all. He says that he used to challenge himself to write a standby eulogy for this man who has earned a Nobel Peace prize and who is a longstanding champion of human rights, this man Latimer refers to as “a hopeless, embarrassing, disaster.”
At the end of chapter 8, Latimer is inducted into a society for speechwriters. He attends an event with people who quietly wrote some of the most memorable and meaningful words in our country’s history. He looks around and feels sorry for himself that he is a part of an administration that will not achieve greatness. “We didn’t have a boss like Kennedy or Reagan whose oratorical gifts might burn our words into history…Mediocrity was the highest level our words would likely reach.” Indeed. All that sucking up for nothing.
Other posts about Speech-less:
Post 1: Speech-less, by Matt Latimer
Post 2: I Laughed Until I Cried
Post 3: The Donald Rumsfeld is a Stand Up Guy
Post 4: I Miss President Bartlet
Post 5: Ninety-One Books in Six Months
When I was in junior high, we had a teacher who used to pride herself in not sleeping more than five hours a night. She enthusiastically told all of us that it was possible to wean oneself off of too much sleep, and encouraged us to try cutting back in fifteen minute increments until we, too, were down to five hours a night. Imagine, she told us, how much more we could accomplish when we were not sleeping our lives away! She had a reputation for being perky and high strung, but now that I think about it, she was probably just sleepy. And heavily caffeinated.
This chapter presents a ton of current research about sleep deprivation in children, noting that most children sleep at least one hour less than they should. You might want to check it out in the bookstore if you aren’t going to read the entire book (although I have a feeling I am going to tell you that about other chapters as well). Basically, children need to sleep in order for their brains to function properly (adults do too, but a child’s
brain is still growing, so it’s even more important up until age 21). While they are sleeping, the things they have learned are moving into their memories, and their brains are forming connections between one piece of information and another, so that they actually know more when they wake up than they did when they went to sleep! Studies show that SAT and math scores improve when kids get more sleep. The score improvements are actually tied to every fifteen minutes of increased sleep!
And teenage attitude problems? They are probably caused by sleep deprivation, according to research, including at school districts who have shifted the start of the school day by one hour later. The same goes for obesity – kids who get more sleep are less likely to be overweight. Over all, sleep probably matters more than we know.
Our kiddo sleeps about eleven hours a night, but she hardly ever naps. Hubby says we are letting her stay up too late, which causes her to wake up late, which gets her to nursery school two hours before nap time, limiting the likelihood that she will nap. Sometimes she comes home so grumpy that we have to work very hard to keep her happy until she goes to sleep. I think we will probably try to inch her up an hour or two earlier and see if this makes a difference in napping. I want her to be happy, and I want her brain to function properly of course! I don’t know if I am ready to rethink my opinion on bedtimes, but I just might.
Other posts about NurtureShock:
Post 1: NurtureShock, by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman
Post 2: Your Brain is a Muscle
Post 3: Sleeping Makes Kids Smarter
Post 4: Race is a Tricky Topic
Post 5: Tattletails and Liars
Post 6: IQ Tests for Toddlers
Post 7: I Love My Sister
Post 8: Those Wacky Teenagers
Post 9: Learning Through Play
Post 10: Daddy, Hug Mommy Now
Post 11: I am Raising a Little Chatterbox
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