Monday, June 28, 2010

Summer Is Finally Here! Hurray!

It's sunny here in the Seattle area so you can probably expect fewer posts from me in the coming months.

Seasonal affective disorder

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), also known as winter depression or winter blues, is a mood disorder in which people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year experience depressive symptoms in the winter...

Our economy has been SAD for a full decade so far. I think it has something to do with several "mock crashes" after excessively binging on cheap credit.

Hold on. That's not SAD. It's SADD.

Students Against Destructive Decisions

SADD hosts many events meant to underscore the consequence of destructive decisions, including a mock crash that portrays the effects of drunk driving, and a "Grim Reaper" day which involves particular students dressing in grim reaper costumes and symbolically "killing" their peers. The "dead" peers don't speak for the rest of the day, and also act very sullen, to help simulate the effect of how it would be if the students were truly dead.

I just want to make sure I understand this correctly.

It’s a Fork, It’s a Spoon, It’s a ... Weapon?

Zachary’s offense? Taking a camping utensil that can serve as a knife, fork and spoon to school. He was so excited about recently joining the Cub Scouts that he wanted to use it at lunch. School officials concluded that he had violated their zero-tolerance policy on weapons, and Zachary was suspended and now faces 45 days in the district’s reform school.

Meanwhile, dressing up in black and symbolically "killing" your peers is not only acceptable, but is actually considered a responsible thing to do. Go figure.

11 comments:

GawainsGhost said...

Well, Mark, I'm glad the weather is pleasant where you are. Unfortunately, I'm looking a a CAT 2 hurricane in the next 48 hours.

Which means that I'm going to have to spend tomorrow driving all over, picking up signs. Nothing could be worse than some kid with a for sale sign, picked up by the wind, stuck in his neck.

And I'll need water and some other supplies. But I'm not too worried, just bothered by it all. A lot of wind, a lot of rain, it's not like I haven't been through that before.

And I refuse to put out sandbags and tape up windows until the storm is 30 miles away.

Stagflationary Mark said...

GawainsGhost,

My girlfriend flew back from Tennessee and was supposed to arrive last night. She actually arrived 12 hours later due to Chicago weather. I think it is safe to say she's still a bit grumpy. She's attributing most of that to the "wonderful" customer service at American Airlines. She was told by a gate agent, "I don't have time to deal with you people."

EconomicDisconnect said...

The worlds greatest invention, the Spork!

Gawains,
at least your cat is back safe!

watchtower said...

"...and Zachary was suspended and now faces 45 days in the district’s reform school."

We have had some sort of breakdown since the time I went to public school (70 - 82) to the 1999Columbine incident.

Along with our innocence, good judgement seems to have left us too.

Stagflationary Mark said...

watchtower,

I graduated high school in 1982. Check out what happened my junior year though. It was quite the shocker.

Neva Henning Freed Today -- Convicted Murderer's Long Battle Ends

Police arrested a teenager named Richard Miller, whom the Hennings had taken in and encouraged to finish high school. Miller confessed to the shooting and was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. But while in prison, Miller changed his story, saying that he and Neva Henning were lovers and that she persuaded him to kill her husband for insurance money. Miller cut a deal, testified against Neva Henning, and was paroled in 1990 after serving nine years.

I find it very hard to believe that our school librarian was romantically involved with a teenager OR that she was capable of conspiring to commit murder. She just didn't seem like that sort of person.

For what it is worth, I still would have felt comfortable bring a spork to class my senior year. Go figure.

EconomicDisconnect said...

Well I saw two girls go to blades in a knife fight at my high school but maybe I went to a less savory place than most! At least they knew how to knife fight! Added bonus 5 days off per year on gang violence fears! Oh the past!

Stagflationary Mark said...

GYSC,

Oh my! That must have been a sight to behold. We had very few fights in my school and I can't think of any that involved weapons (other than the school librarian's home life apparently).

There were several gangs though.

The Farmer Gang wore FFA jackets sometimes. Oh the humanity!

The AD&D Gang tended to always carry dice. Scary!

I must have had a very sheltered life, lol.

watchtower said...

"Check out what happened my junior year though"

"Well I saw two girls go to blades in a knife fight at my high school"

Holy cow!
I must have been sheltered too here in 'bumpkinville', fist fights were the order of the day where I grew up.

Stagflationary Mark said...

GawainsGhost & watchtower & GYSC,

The Old Yellered Gang is out behind the woodshed right now asking for those Dow 10,000 hats back.

mab said...

Stag,

Summer Is Finally Here! Hurray!

I here you on the nice weather.

Speaking of getting old yellered behind the wood shed, do you think we'll still celebrate Christmas during the depression?

Stagflationary Mark said...

Christmas During the Great Depression.

People keep asking about growing up during the Great Depression. Specifically, “how was Christmas celebrated differently? "

Today we see Christmas decorations in stores before labor Day. When I was a child in the 1920's and 30's, we did not start decorating for Christmas in September. Neither we nor our neighbors had the time nor money to decorate for Christmas until Christmas week. Usually it was done on Christmas Eve.


Assuming that the depression does strike, I would guess that retailers will be more than a bit nervous at the start of the shopping season.

I'm just trying to win 2010's Understatement of the Year Award!