Another assault on education

My wife just told me today that our local library branch would no longer be open on Saturdays. I almost shed a tear.

Not only does my daughter love going their for Story Hour after her class at Little Gym, but because I remember the great many hours I spent at the library on Saturdays when I was a kid.

Back in NYC, my family didn't have a lot of money, so I found the library an excellent source of entertainment. Heck, you couldn't beat the price! I feel a little sad for today's kids that are like I was: low on cash, but high on desire to learn more about the world.

Someday -- soon I hope -- we will learn to make education a priority. Hopefully before we really get our clocks cleaned...

Popular posts from this blog

What's with draconian pet adoption people?

Recently, my family was interested in expanding our family/menagerie with one or two dogs. So, we did the responsible thing and asked around about good local dog shelters. We figured that the process would be not too different than what we went through ten and a half years ago when we adopted our current dog. Alas, it was a bit more difficult.
Read more

Who says that IT has to be complicated?

If there were one, single maxim for the IT industry, it is: "The only constant is change." Surely, anyone who has spent more than a few days in this business could figure that out on their own. However, I have noticed that a lot of the change is due to an inexplicable movement towards increased complexity disguised as innovation. This is -- to put it bluntly -- complete idiocy.
Read more

I wish you were still here

Quite a few months ago, I started writing this post to honor my friend, Doug Pitters, who departed from this world far too soon. Unfortunately, I never got around to posting it. Well, today marks the one year anniversary of his death, so here it goes... In a previous post, I talked about the fact that each of us should cherish every day that we are alive and use it to its fullest. I am such a strong believer in this concept that I regularly toss it into conversation to remind both my audience and myself of its importance. On the morning of November 19, 2012, I was catching up with an old high school buddy via email. In the course of updating him on  what had been going on in my slice of the world,  I said: I had to face up to the fact that ... the next day (or even the remainder of the current day) is guaranteed to no one. When I typed those words, I never thought that just a few hours later that I would be reminded that they were not just a statement of opinion, but ...
Keep reading