I know I’m about three days behind, but TinyCatPants, a blog I read, had a post that made my head hurt. Her post was about overhearing teenagers and their apparent lack of knowledge. Or rather, their lack of knowledge about history.

First off, let me say that I kinda feel where those kids/teenagers/children/young adults or whatever you want to call them are coming from. I left high school with very little knowledge about literature. I remember studying Romeo and Juliet as a sophomore in high school, and that’s it. Anything else I’ve learned about literature either came from college courses or my own insatiable curiosity.

I’ll bet anyone ten bucks that if you walk up to an 18 or 19 year old and ask, “In literature, who is Tybalt and Mercutio?”, you would be met with blank stares.

For the record, Tybalt is Juliet’s cousin and Mercutio is friends and family with Romeo. Tybalt kills Mercutio in a sword fight. Granted, the relationship could be wrong, but I’m betting Scout or Holly will step in if I’m wrong.

My mother-in-law is a math professor at the local college. We’ve had many conversations about how freshmen come to college with horrible or non-existent mathematical skills.

History is no different.

I can remember listening to my fellow students in high school say “George Bush” when asked who was the first President of the United States. I can remember hearing students say that the Declaration of Independence freed the slaves, and I would cringe and think, “No, dumbass. Emancipation Proclamation.” I guess it’s a good thing that our teacher didn’t ask what the Monitor and the Merrimac was. (Psst..Monitor and Merrimac were ironside battleships that fought a major naval battle during the Civil War. Merrimac was for the South and had previously been sunk, and the Monitor was from the North.)

I’ve had friends in college who couldn’t tell me what the First Amendment was. COLLEGE!

We’re not educating our children in this country like we should be. As always, the biggest question is who to blame. The teachers? The students? The parents? I blame everyone. The parents should be teaching, the teachers should be teaching, and the students should actually be giving a shit. You can’t blame one person for the ignorance of America’s youth. We’re all dropping the ball on this.

I’ll even get political on your ass for a moment and say that No Child Left Behind is to blame also.

What you may not know about No Child Left Behind is that NCLB is not an original piece of legislation. NCLB has always been around. However, it was called the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, and it was about how federal funds would be allocated to schools. ESEA has been reauthorized every 5 years since 1965, and was reauthorized under the current administration, but given a new name to make it sound new. The basis of NCLB is actually around 43 years old.

However, I blame NCLB, because teachers are given an extensive and detailed curriculum of what to teach students and when you should teach it. In high school history, my curriculum starts at the Reconstruction period after the Civil War and continues until now. The curriculum for history is around 20 or so pages.

NCLB forces teachers to not teach for the sake of learning, but to teach for the sake of testing. You see, if students fail the “Gateway” tests or whatever the tests are being called this week, the government has the right to pull funding. Even though no school has ever gotten their funding pulled that I know of, it’s still a possibility.

You see the logic? When students at a school perform poorly, you pull that school’s funding.

It’s okay. I’ll wait…..

First, why in the hell would you pull funding from a school that’s failing? Shouldn’t you be pumping more funding into that school? Second, teacher and administrators are so worried about getting a good grade on these tests or evaluations, that they teach to and from the test.

But here’s the best part. If a school does perform poorly, there’s no additional funding to give the school. They put these regulations into effect, but didn’t monetarily back it up.

Now, what happens when I start teaching Reconstruction period, and I’m met with 25 students who doesn’t know anything about the Civil War? If you solely teach by the curriculum, you do nothing. The Civil War is not on the test, therefore, you don’t teach it. There’s not enough time in a school year to cover everything your students were suppose to know when they walked into your classroom. Heck, it would take you a year to catch the students up to where they’re suppose to be.

Instead of looking for 99% scores on these tests, I think the education system would work better if we focused on growth and results instead. Did the students score 99%? No. Did the students raise their scores 20%? Yes? Then there are your results. No student or school is perfect, but if you show steady growth and increase in comprehension, then you are really getting good results.

Okay, okay. I’m stepping off the soapbox.

In the comment section of Tiny Cat Pants’ post, a person (the name momentarily slips me) talked about how they were appalled at the lack of knowledge about the HIV/AIDS epidemic. One person actually said in their comment that they heard a student refer to it as something that happens in Africa.

Like I said above, my history curriculum spans from Reconstruction to today. In my first education class, I did an entire lesson plan and activity on HIV/AIDS. I went from the beginning of Karposi’s Sarcoma to recent medical studies. It’s an issue in modern times that should be taught if I’m to follow the curriculum. Also, if I can teach my students how to stay safe and give them the knowledge I can, then I’m doing my little part to help fight the war against AIDS.

My Education Professor told me to find another topic, because HIV/AIDS was too controversial. This professor also said the same thing about a lesson I did about how horrible African Americans were treated during the Civil War and up to the Civil Rights era.

Too controversial? So, I can teach, but I can’t teach the stuff that’s controversial. The world doesn’t give a damn about the their teenage sensibilities. AIDS doesn’t give a damn whether you’re mature enough to handle it. How are we suppose to teach young adults when we have to teach with kid gloves on so we don’t upset them or offend them?

I wouldn’t fan the flames or get a room full of teenagers riled up about something. But I would teach them the facts, and if the facts upset them, then so be it. If the HIV virus offends you, then maybe you need to help do something about it.

The education system is screwed up. Now, we’re starting to see how screwed up it really is.

I hate vacations. Or days off.

Everyone who knows me know that I run 90 miles an hour most weeks. At work, I’m constantly busy doing something, and at home I’m busy doing home stuff like washing clothes and washing dishes. I run that hard and fast, because it’s gets my mind off how shitty I feel.

When you have to work and do stuff around the house, you can keep telling yourself to suck it up and keep going. You always keep going. Because without insurance or loads of money, you can’t afford to go to the doctor and ask her to fix you. You keep going, popping whatever medicine when necessary as your running out the door.

Have migraines off and on that put your into bed? You say to yourself it’s the allergies. Having chest pains for two weeks? You say to yourself that you need to burp and keep going. Even though when you bend over, it becomes excruciating. Neck, shoulders, hip hurting with a side order of fatigue? You tell yourself that you slept wrong

Boss Lady has strep throat with side order of hearing loss. Brina has broken her leg in 42 places. I kid about the 42 places, but I’m sure she feels like someone has cut off her leg. Aunt Vonda-loo has stomach condition that lands her in the hospital from time to time. The four of us make up half of our workforce.

As you can read, we’re working with a skeleton crew, and half of those skeletons are missing parts.

I think everyone is about at their breaking point. I don’t think anyone will actually break, because we can’t. We all kind of feel like we’ve been standing up for months on end and we just want a moment to sit down. We can’t get pissed, because it slows us down. We all can’t get angry, because production screeches to a halt.

I’m sure that everyone is tired of taking up slack. It’s not that we mind taking up slack. Even though we have to pick up the slack, we pick it up even more because we can tell that the other person needs it off them for a while. And you do it willing it, because you know that you have had your slacked picked up in the past. It’s all about getting each other through the day.

I say all this to say that I hate days off, because it gives me enough time to slow down and realize how much I’m physically falling apart. But everyone is, too.

I don’t know how many times I’ve told Jeremy this weekend that I just want to feel human. Not just a mindless, spineless blob that walks whatever direction I’m pointed to.

I also feel like I’ve ruined Jeremy’s long weekend. He had 3 days off, and all I wanted to do was lay around on the couch. He listened to me moan and groan and bitch and complain all weekend. I feel bad, because we’re celebrating our one-year anniversary week extravaganza. I’m going to try and be up and going by July 10th, which is our one-year anniversary.

I guess for the first time in a long, long while, I’ve had a moment to look at myself instead of everything that has to get done. And I’ve come to realization that I am so damned tired. But it’s not exactly a tired as in not getting enough sleep. Rather, it’s that I’m physically weary.

I just want a moment when I can unplug. Get away from everything with my husband and enjoy life without all the responsibilities and bills and jobs and school work weighing on my mind.

Happy anniversary, Jeremy. I’m going to try and get my self together.

In honor of Independence Day, I’ll give you a patriotic song.

The song is sung by Ray Charles in 1976, when America celebrated 200 years of Independence.

I guess you’ve noticed in the past 3 weeks of Feel Good Friday, that I like a wide range of music. I’ve posted Aerosmith, Run DMC, INXS, Peter Gabriel, and now Ray Charles.

I’ve always liked this song. How do you not like Tina Turner? Those legs!

Happy Feel Good Friday!

Someone who has never suffered a migraine can’t understand how debilitating one can be. When you hear someone describe a migraine, you think the person is exaggerating. Nine times out of ten, we’re not.

It’s been described as my eyeball trying to pop out of my head, a knife to the head and/or my head exploding.

Most of the time, you can feel them coming days in advance. I had a headache Thursday that was a prelude to the one yesterday. I thought I had nipped it in the bud and had it all but taken care of.

But then, every so often, you have a migraine that will hit your out of no where. It feels like you turned around and WHAM! You just got a baseball bat to the head. Like the one yesterday.

I had a migraine yesterday that put me in bed at 2:45 p.m. I didn’t wake up again until 8 p.m. I didn’t hear Jeremy walk in the door. I didn’t hear the telephone ring. I was dead to the world. I went back to bed around 11 p.m. and slept the rest of the night.

The Fourth of July is one of the worst times of the year for someone who suffers from migraines. A migraine is usually triggered by something. It might be a smell, a sound, or something that you see. Reason #583 why I don’t walk into a club that has a strobe light hanging from every corner. In fact, that would probably be my Hell. A loud club filled with cheap cologne and strobe lights.

The reason why July 4th is a shitty time of year for me is because of all the stinkin’ fireworks. The big fireworks, i.e. mortar shells, doesn’t bother me, because I’m far enough way from the smoke and big explosion.

However, the rinky-dink fireworks kills me. The package of Black Cats, the pallet of bottle rockets, sparklers, and OMG! the freaking smoke bombs. They have some fireworks now that you light and turns into one big strobe light.

There really is no point to this blog except to bitch about how bad my head hurt yesterday. But in your group of friends, if you have one that seems to be lurking in the back uninterested in fireworks, it’s not because we’re not feeling patriotic. It’s because for us, it’s like staring directly into the sun. It hurts.

You’ll wake up the next morning with your eyeball rolling around on the floor and the contents of your head spread out on your pillow.

A friend of mine blogged about her weight gain. We’ve all gained weight. Like Katt Williams said, “Stretch marks tell us two things. You were either small and got big, or were big and got small.”

I blame celebrities and society for a lot of the weight issues going on in America’s culture. Magazines are littered with celebrities that lost 40 pounds in 2 months after having a baby. Even I, who has never had a child, know that ain’t possible.

A few years ago, it took Nicole Richie to get to 80 pounds before magazines started calling her too skinny. It took pictures of joints protruding out of her body and looking like she lived in a 3rd world country before magazines decided to call her too skinny. No woman in her mid-twenties should weight 80-90 pounds unless there’s an underlying medical or genetic cause.

I’ll go one step further than my friend in hopes of making her feel better. I am currently 200 pounds give or take a few. I can safely say that this is the biggest I have ever weighed. As a sophomore in high school, I freaked out when I saw the scale flash 130.

Of course, I gained weight in college. You just do. You metabolism is slowing down and you finally get to eat whatever your want instead of the “nutritious, correct portioned” food that high school cafeteria’s serve or, at least, what they’re suppose to serve.

In America, our plates and portions are bigger than in Europe. I had a friend who moved to Japan for 6 months and lost 40+ pounds just because the food was cooked healthier and was more filling and you had to walk everywhere.

Now, for my defense or at least what I tell myself to make me feel better when I look in the mirror, I’m built squat and stocky. (Thanks, Dad.) My mom’s side of the family is insanely tall. My mom used to stand at 5′11”. My granddad on my mother’s side stood a whopping 6′6”. However, my grandmother on my dad’s side is 4′11” and my dad stands at 5′8”. My granddad on my father’s side was 5′10”, but had shoulders as wide as a barn. Granted, I don’t know how wide my shoulders are compared to other women, but I stand at medium 5′5”, I think.

Everybody’s weight is different. Ask Jeremy, there are times that I can be a hoss with moving stuff. At my mom’s house, I have broke a sweat and pinched my back moving stoves, dining room tables, huge televisions, and a piano by myself. When moving, Jeremy and I moved a couch by ourselves. There was a time when I was holding one end 3 inches above my head by myself.

What I’m trying to say is that the number on the scale is just that. A number. Ladies, you need to realize that the boobs you’re carrying are not light. For big chested women, like myself, if I was to loose my boobs, I’d probably lose 15 pounds. That number is fat, but it’s also the muscles and bones you’re carrying. I don’t know if the excuse “big-boned” is valid, but if you’re a woman and built like a tank, you’re going to weigh more. You may never get to 130 just because you’re body and genetics won’t get that far.

I also blame clothing companies. Only in women’s sizes is a 14 not a 14 across the board. Jeremy can go buy his pants and buy the same size at any store he goes to. I can wear a 14 in Old Navy, and 16 at Wal-Mart, but if I go Fashion Bug, I have to buy a size 18. Just the discrepency in sizing can make a woman’s self-esteem hit the bottom, which is why I don’t shop a lot.

Also, you have to remember that 6 months ago, people were eating Halloween candy, Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas candy, Christmas dinner, Valentine’s Day candy and Easter candy. You also have to remember as humans back in ice age, we put on weight to survive the winter much like a cat growing it’s winter coat. It takes evolutions thousands of years to evolve, so I’m betting there is still some genetics and surivival skills at work that make humans put on weight in the winter. Besides the fact that it’s too damn cold to run outside in the winter.

Don’t stress about your weight. Now, if you start seeing adverse effects, like high blood pressure and diabetes, then you probably need to get your weight in check. But just realize, we’re not all built the same so we’re not all going to be the same.

I have a wonderful husband who loves me no matter what I weigh. I do need to lose weight and I’ll admit that, but it’s not as fatal flaw as American society and culture makes it out to be.

Ending with another line from Katt Williams, “If you think you’re the shit, then be the mother-fucking shit, regardless of your size. Being a skinny bitch just might not be for you.”

Hurray! We’ve made it to another end of the week. We got about 8 hours left before we can officially start the weekend.

I’m all about giving everyone more than what they expect, so out of the goodness of my heart, I give you TWO feel good videos. These videos are in honor of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith that’s coming out this weekend on the 29th and what we’ll buy this weekend.

I would like to note that Dream On is one of my favorite Aerosmith songs.

You can’t post an Aerosmith song without posting the juggernaut “Walk This Way.” I’ll even post the Guitar Hero version so you will know what I’ll be doing all day Sunday.

Here’s hoping everything has a rock star-filled weekend!

Today, the Supreme Court said that the death penalty was too harsh for those that had been convicted of raping a child.

In my Philosophy 160 class, Intro to Ethics, at UTM, we discussed all types of practices and ideas. The death penalty, abortion, euthanasia, and legalization of marijuana. Surprisingly, that class was one of my favorites during college.

The purpose of that class was to expose students to new, controversial ideas and help them form opinions. Maybe I wasn’t as stellar a student as my A said, because I never formed an opinion during the class. I could always see both sides to every argument.

I constantly flip-flop on this idea. Sometimes, I think death is too easy. Someone could torture and kill several people, and all they would get is a needle in the arm. Solitary confinement for 50 years is much harsher in my opinion, because you have all that time to sit in a concrete kennel and think.

No, really. Get up and go sit in a closet. Shut the door, and just sit there. How long does it take before you get up and walk out? How long does it take before you get bored? 10 minutes? Try YEARS. I can’t sit idle at work for more than 15 minutes before I have to find something to do.

However, I can see how the death penalty can screw with your head. We’re all going to die. We have the luxury of not knowing when. What if someone told you the exact date you were going to die? Would you live your life differently if you knew the time and date? How would you feel? How would you feel when they rolled your last meal into your cell? How would you feel when you talked to your family one last time?

The execution of a prisoner now in the United States is easy compared to past procedures. Burned at the stake like those innocent women at the Salem Witch Trials? What if you were made the walk the plank like a pirate and watched your ship sail away as you wondered how long it would be before you muscles got tired? When people were hung during the wild west days, the rope didn’t always snap their neck and they had to swing there and suffocate. Don’t even get me started on electrocution.

I think if we were still using archaic ways of execution, more people would be against it. I would definitely be against it, because the paragraph above makes my skin crawl when I think about it. It’s barbaric, inhumane, and cruel. But then, what’s the difference with lethal injection? A prick of the needle and you fall asleep permanently? Is that any better?

I pretty much have my mind made up on the abortion and legalization of marijuana. Euthanasia and the death penalty is a topic that I constantly flip back and forth on.

Do I agree with the Supreme Court? Yeah, I do.

The rape of a child is a heinous crime, but I don’t think the equal and opposite reaction is death.

I know what you’re thinking. A blog post with this title belongs on my other blog. I swear it has nothing to do with marriage.

Tonight, I got a little bit of cabin fever. I get that from time to time. As Jeremy and I were pulling out of the driveway, I noticed that the road in front of him was dark. Come to find out, the light bulbs in both of his headlights had blown.

We went to Wal-Mart and got two new bulbs, because Jeremy can’t go around without lights.

Also, earlier today, I somehow messed up my shoulder. I think I just pulled a muscle, but it still hurts to raise my left arm.

As I standing in line to check out, I noticed a family having to put some things in the cart back, because they didn’t have enough money. And it got me to thinking.

Everyone knows that gas prices, health insurance, and food is sky high. With the flooding up north wiping out acres upon acres of corn fields, the price of meat is going to rise substantially, because corn is fed to the cattle and the cattle farmers are going to have to make up that lost profit somewhere.

We’re not rich. After years of scrimping and pinching, I’ve got a little bit of a emergency fund built up in my bank account. I had to dip into that fund about two or three years ago when Momma’s roof caved in one afternoon after a hard rain. I haven’t built it quite back yet, but I’ve got a good start on it. Granted, one good emergency could wipe that out within seconds. But I’m not having to put anything back at Wal-Mart, because I’ve done everything I can to save money.

I messed up my shoulder, but I have a little secret. I go to brand Web sites, like Dove soap, and get coupons and free samples. I’ve got 3 free samples of Icy Hot patches that I’m using to get my shoulder to feeling better. I’ve gotten 5 free tubes of toothpaste, a free roll of paper towels, free laundry detergent, and just about anything else you can think of.

I know you’re thinking, “Five free tubes of toothpaste. So?” A tube of toothpaste costs about 4 or 5 dollars. Multiply that by 5, and that’s how much money I’ve saved.

But with all of that said, we’re not starving or sitting without electricity. Sure, I wear hand-me-down clothes and go without things, but we’re not suffering. So, while the price of everything is going through the roof, I have a lot to be thankful for that I actually have a roof.

Oh noes! I’ve been persuaded by my own boredom to post a “Feel Good Friday” video. Since, I missed last week, I’ll post two! TWO VIDEOS! IT’S LIKE DOUBLE COUPON DAY!

I’m faking this energy. I need an IV of espresso, stat.

A little history behind this video. This is the first video I can remember watching on MTV. The end of it when he walks/saunters with the star-like lights everywhere scared the Sesame Street-infused shit out of me. I’m not kidding.

That dead singer is HOT! Too bad he’s, like, all dead and stuff. You can’t help feel a little spunky with INXS playing in the background.

I think my friends are just now realizing that I have the weirdest tastes in music. I’m so sorry that I’m the goober out of your group of friends.

This will be a short PSA for all the motorcycle-riding folks out there.

I know there’s something about a motorcycle, whether it’s a Harley, Nissan, Kawasaki, or Indian, that makes people smile. It’s summertime, so the motorcycle caravans are out in full force.

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard of someone having a motorcycle wreck. My dad had one many, many years ago and it damned near killed him.

I am sick of saying to myself or Jeremy that, “When they have to lay that motorcycle down on the road, they’re going to wish they had more clothes on.”

I don’t care if you’re driving or riding in the back, put some clothes on. Don’t ride in shorts, flip flops, tennis shoes, a tank top, a tube top, or any other article of clothing that leaves a lot of skin exposed. And for God’s sake, wear a helmet.

There’s a reason why you see real motorcyclists wear leather. Leather jacket or vest, leather chaps and leather steel-toed boots. It could keep them from losing half their weight in skin and muscle if they have a wreck.

Wrecks are never fun, and people always get hurt, but it’s 10 times worse when you’re only on two wheels. Road rash or burn is when your body slides across the pavement. It’s similar to a carpet burn except the carpet is concrete and tar. You really will be bad to the bone, because that’s all that’s going to be left of you.

I know you like feeling the wind whip around you as you ride down the road on your awesome motorcycle. But you won’t feel any wind when you’re dead.

Also, the speed limit applies to you. Just because you’re on two wheels doesn’t mean that the traffic laws don’t apply to you. There’s a reason why dad almost died. He was going at least 90 miles an hour down the Purchase Parkway and lost control of his bike. The only thing that saved him was he was wearing a helmet.

If the speed limit is 30 mph, don’t blow past me going 50. You’re not getting anywhere faster, because we still have to stop at the same red light regardless of who shows up first. Also, you’ll save more gas if you don’t ride with your bike wide open. And we all know that the price of gas is killing everyone right now.

Finally, don’t ride my ass. I hate it when cars and truck follow too close to me and ride my ass. It’s annoying and dangerous, because if I have to slam on the brakes, you probably won’t stop in time. It’s worse with a motorcycle, because you’re directly in my blind spot. So, if I can’t see you, and I have to stop really fast, you’re going to eat my back bumper.

Don’t be stupid. Ride safe and you live to ride your motorcycle again next summer.