Blogs

A Central Bucks high school English teacher was suspended on Wednesday for internet posts on her personal blog.

Natalie Munroe acknowledged writing "profanity-laced rants" which referred to students as "out of control" and as "disengaged, lazy whiners" and disparaged co-workers and administrators as well.

District spokeswoman Carol Counihan told the i>Bucks County Courier Times that Munroe was immediately suspended with pay and the blog was quickly taken down. Superintendent Robert Laws says the postings should result in termination but that the district is still investigating.

Had a Whopper for lunch. If I'd have known they had these available, I'm not so sure I'd have made that choice.

There must be a parade today. I come to that conclusion by noting the large number of people who have already set out lawn chairs to watch it from.

Mayors Tailgate

The Intelligent Era and WGAL have both noted that Rick Gray was invited to the White House for Sunday's SuperBowl party; one of them mentioned that guests were invited to bring munchies, and Rick brought Hammond's pretzels. This morning's York Daily Record mentions that their former former mayor, John Brenner and Reading's mayor Tom McMahon as well. Apparenbtly, the White House thinks it's safe to snub the mayors of Bridgeport, Bausman and Willow Street. They only invited 150 mayors, after all.

They talked about the fact that unemployment was high, a fact I'm sure has escaped Mr. Obama's attention until now, and discussed Yuengling beer. Jennifer Lopez was present at the party with her husband, but apparently they didn't discuss her at all. John Brenner said the deep-dish pizza was incredibly good.

I usually don't deliver verdicts on products I haven't tried. My comments here are on not on the products themselves but only on their "curb appeal". If they sound good to you, you try them, and they're exceptional, please let me know. Otherwise, I don't intend to even try them.

I Like Coconut Cream Pie

In general, I like coconut cream pie. Remember that cheap-o lemon cream pie that 60 Minutes (IIRC) made fun of ten or twenty years ago, because it contained neither lemon, nor cream? They have a companion product, a coconut cream pie, and it's fairly good, even though I suspect it reduces your life a week by eating it. When it comes to real coconut cream pie, I like it even better. It's light, fluffy, delicate - adjectives I don't associate with better ice cream.

And I like Turkey Hill ice cream, in general. I'm not impressed by their "Philadelphia Style" Chocolate ice cream, because it tastes like cocoa, rather than chocolate, as if it were ice milk instead of ice cream. I wondered what they mean by "Philadelphia Style" so I called 1-800-MYDAIRY and asked. The nice lady on the phone said that it meant that they use natural ingredients. I'm still trying to figure out that one, since a Philly cheese steak has Velveeta instead of cheese, and little shavings of beef instead of a steak. But I generally enjoy TH ice cream, even in flavors that shouldn't be my favorites.

Rethinking The Flavor Of The Month

February's flavor of the month, though is "Coconut Cream Pie." They have chunks of coconut cream pie chopped up into coconut ice cream. To my way of thinking, coconut doesn't have a very strong flavor unless it's toasted, and that's not common in ice cream or in pie. What's more, when I have had other "pie" type ice creams in the past, I've been disappointed by the crust.

Of the many women I've loved, there hasn't been one who had a really good relationship with their mother (although most would disagree with my assertion.) That includes my sister, who did a pretty good job of concealing the problems, nor my mother, who often had a quite contentious relationship with her mother, and my nieces, all of whom had various levels of difficulty with their mothers.

I never knew Blondie's mother, but I don't care much for her. Blondie says I'm being unfair, that her mother would have loved me, and I'd have loved her, but I have heard too many stories of Blondie's growing up. When she was a teenager, she smarted off to her mother, and her mother slapped her. Blondie slapped her back, and from then on, instead of slapping Blondie, her mother would call on Blondie's father to discipline her. "Ben!" she would cry, and my father in law would come in and plead, in exasperation, for Blondie to behave.

Exasperation

I can understand that exasperation. And I don't disapprove of physical punishment. It's far better than emotionally battering a kid. Spanking is deliberate, and kids understand why they are being spanked. While being spanked is painful for the kid, the parent's hand has more nerve endings than the kid's butt, so there's not going to be any real damage. And unlike cruel words, once a spanking is over, it's over. But slapping someone in the face is done in anger, not in calm deliberation.

As Craig Ferguson would say, "We welcome your letters. CBS cares." I'd actually kinda like someone to argue the other side, because I know I can't present it properly, for I ain't buying it.

Like one in six men, one if four girls, I experienced traumatic abuse before the age of twelve. Peer counseling helped me work out my problems a couple of decades ago, and then I engaged in peer counseling to pay it forward. I heard lots of stories, and undoubtedly not all were truthful, but sometimes, it seemed like more survivers were minimizing their issues rather than exaggerating them.