Backup to the backup…to the backup (the deepening hypocrisies of people who are not me).

The deepening hypocrisies of people who are not me, Em Dickenson, Valenzuela’s The Censors, Solomon patience, whining as an asterisk

Strangely, the day is full. Becca invests in the morning working with a 2nd and Kindergartner on Reading, Science, and some dreadfully mysterious giggling. Science, and a discussion of habitats, is a big hit.

The writing utensils with which we write.

I exhibit my Solomonesque patience and wisdom in working with a 2nd grader later, on Science, by reminding him, with utmost grace and patience, of the importance of following directions - a matter, truth be told, I do not have a fabulous historical record with myself in childhood or youth or adulthood - but nonetheless I embrace the hypocrisy of explaining to him its importance, and deepen my hypocrisy by suggesting, going against my longstanding personal practice, of doing schoolwork in pencil, rather than pen. This is a shift for him, as our house is filled with pens, and my pockets generally contain a G2 gel pen, as well as a backup, and possibly a backup to the backup. But yeah, he should probably do stuff in pencil. At least in second grade. Yeah? No?

Verisimilitude.

I record two separate discussions: one with a 9th grader about the 1976 short story The Censors by Luisa Valenzuela. It’s set against the backdrop of 1970s Argentina and the autocratic regime that leaned heavily on censorship as a method of control and power retention. Chilling and unfortunately timely still; it falls on the heels of a recent article I read about the escalating use of transnational repression to hunt down dissidents abroad.

The symbols we employ.

I also got to spend a lovely time chatting with our 12th grader about Emily Dickinson’s 1863 poem Because I could not stop for Death. Like many, I love much of her poetry. I re-read, and then had my daughter read again aloud. I love to see how she wrote her lines and stanzas, the care with which she placed punctuation and arranged syntax and capitalization to achieve the cadence and pacing she desired. And I loved hearing my daughter read, soaking in the rhythm and intonation as she interpreted the timeless words of a traveler casually dismissing Death, in the form of carriage, as it inevitably travels alongside.

A 14-year old studies types of maps for Human Geography and works on a survey for Photography. A 17-year old gets her application in to be an Outdoor School counselor and studies for AP Psych.

Don’t do this or that.

Also, I have a conversation that I feel will be the last one ever with two young boys about the importance of behaviors such not whining, not grumbling, not squabbling, not doing big sighs in response to us asking them to do something, not having to ask them more than once to do something, and not exhibiting an aura of unpleasantness on weekdays or weekends.

There are child development authorities who might cheerfully counsel me to start by focusing on the good and positive things and not phrasing what I just did in a negative way. Don’t do this, don’t do that. Say what you want, not what you don’t want. Fair point.

I might work on doing better as a parent. I might not. So there. #growthmindset? :)

Miscellaneous.

Becca and the wee-est ones have a good time discussing appropriate clothes for different seasons, and writing out the names of each person in the family, categorized by adults and children. Also: writing the number 1 / one.