Apparently, Ana's school is having a staff development day.

[conuly]

They say they sent home a note. I believe them. We never read the note, and I cheerfully placed full blame on Ana even though that's probably not her fault. Sorry, sweetie.

So when Ana ran home and said there was no school, my first thought was "what if Eva is stranded on the other side of Victory?" So I sent Ana to make sure her sister could get home while I checked the DoE calendar (no luck) and called the school (ditto). Then I quickly got dressed and followed after her.

Now, obviously if Eva didn't have school she would be on the sidewalk or in the yard, but Ana went into the school, which means that Ana's security guard had to stop me to let me know Eva's security guard wanted her picked up by an actual adult.

Ana was polite enough until the second we left, then she exploded into simmering rage about how "those biddies" wouldn't let her walk home on her own. I tried in vain to point out that this time, it was quite reasonable. Obviously there had been a mix-up, so they wanted to make sure somebody knew she was going home before they released her.

So, you know, that happened. Quite a day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As organic goes mainstream, consumers can expect price breaks

http://www.startribune.com/business/258720931.html

Motel operator is driven to keep Route 66 culture alive and kicking

http://lat.ms/1jazdwB

Survivors of sex trafficking learn cooking and nutrition skills at workshop

Nourish Workshop, started by non-profit Sanctuary for Families and the Lower Eastside Girls Club, aims to teach survivors about basic nutrition and give them cooking skills as well as a self-esteem boost.

http://nydn.us/1iG93Mu

Wondering what to name your kid? Here is how every name will rise and fall in popularity over the next 25 years.

Name geekery is always interesting, but I wish I had more information about how the chart works before believing in its information.

http://time.com/93911/baby-name-predictor/

U.S. children read, but not well or often

http://reut.rs/1iG9Z3f

Rebels appeal to join Russia after east Ukraine vote

http://reut.rs/QAImlk

Hachette: Amazon delaying delivery of books

http://cnnmon.ie/1uUGkgu

Slow adoption of modern tech hampers NYC subway, study says

http://bit.ly/1iGaeLT

Replacing fossil fuels with renewables as the world’s primary source of energy will not only save the planet from dangerous levels of warming – it will also save the global economy US$ 71trillion by 2050.

http://bit.ly/1oIPp7O

Comments

[luscious_purple]

Thanks for the baby-name thing -- I passed it along to a couple who is expecting in August. Just so their kid doesn't end up like me: someone whose first name peaked really high in their birth decade and then fell like a rock. Nowadays, just signing the name "Patricia" to a job application is like screaming, "I'm way the heck over 50, so DO NOT HIRE ME."

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

"A large portion rarely read for pleasure. About a third of 13-year-olds and almost half of 17-year-olds reported in one study that they read for pleasure less than twice a year.

Of those who read or are read to, children tend to spend on average between 30 minutes and an hour daily with that activity, the report found. Older children and teenagers tend to read for pleasure for an equally long time each day."

It would be interesting to see a survey of the reading habits of the parents of those children studied. All the children in my family, and most of the children I have looked after, have spent on average between 30 minutes and an hour daily just reading in the bathroom, let alone all the rest of the time from morning till night. But all of them have been brought up by people with a lot of books, who read all the time for pleasure to themselves and to their children, buy them books, take them to the library, talk about books, and who limited access to electronic entertainment.

I suppose there are probably some bibliophile parents who worry because their teenager does nothing but text, and never seems to read a book any more. I would call that a phase, surmising that a person who'd grown up loving books would get back to them eventually. But the vast majority of teenagers who don't read books for pleasure probably come from families where nobody else does either.

[conuly]

"I suppose there are probably some bibliophile parents who worry because their teenager does nothing but text, and never seems to read a book any more. I would call that a phase, surmising that a person who'd grown up loving books would get back to them eventually. But the vast majority of teenagers who don't read books for pleasure probably come from families where nobody else does either. "

My mother still talks about the time she tutored a boy who couldn't read and was horrified to discover that his home didn't have so much as a copy of the TV Guide.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Even more horrifying to think that there are hundreds of thousands of homes in this country that don't have so much as a TV Guide, and the people who live in those homes don't find that either strange or troublesome.