Saturday, June 16, 2007
Yucca ya ya
What can I say, I just got fascinated with the radial possibilities of these desert beauties
21st century city
I read somewhere that my home town of Phoenix has grown 20% in just the last 6 years. Lots of people think of it as just some SouthWestern cow town. While I was there last week, I kept wondering what kind of SciFi movies could be filmed there. Here are two shots taken in the 7th Ave tunnel and one of a light in a downtown parking garage. Post modern to the max.
Painted Desert
Above was a pretty poor picture across I-40 on the Navajo nation, basically because of the time of day. If I had been there after 6 pm, during what Hollywood directors used to call "the golden hour" when the sun is at a 30 degree angle or lower instead of directly overhead- the colors would've been much more dramatic. But you can't always control when you get somewhere on vacation- so... below is some fun in PhotoShop after we got home. I think it reminds me of an Indian sand painting- pretty cool huh?
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Heres to everyone’s first heroes
Heres to everyone’s first heroes
Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper — Schleswig Leader, Thursday, June 14, 2007 – Page 3
I’m pretty lucky this year. At the time that you read this, I get to go to a baseball game with my dad and brother in Phoenix for Father’s Day.
Before we left on vacation, I got to do some awesome things that Dads get to do. I lay on the floor and played blocks with a two year old, I bought a five year old a flower, and I played catch with an eight year old.
I don’t know that I’m a particularly good dad by any stretch of the imagination. I’m not good at sports and I don’t think that I’d ever be able to change a transmission in a car, even though my dad made be help in do it both times that I blew out the clutch in my Chevy Nova back in high school.
But after teaching and coaching for 13 years I’ve seen a lot of kids who’s lives would’ve been drastically improved if only they had had someone to look up to and who’d take them fishing like my brother and I had.
Even though my nephew recently lobbied me to use this column to advocate the establishment of a “Kid’s Day,” because he thinks that it is so unjust that there’s a Mother’s Day and a Father’s Day but no Kid’s Day- I’d like to take some time to talk about how important dads are.
Doctor Kyle Pruett reported for the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies on some of the important things that dads contribute to children.
Dads make great jungle gyms. This is fun for kids and it can be an important building block of intimacy and self-esteem.
Dads promote persistence. When dads play with their kids, they tend to use fewer deliberately “educational toys” than moms do, instead they incorporate whatever is around. Dads encourage problem solving, encourage kids to “stick with it” that serves kids well when they’re in school and in the workplace.
A mom is more likely to ask a child to stop doing something because, “It makes Mommy sad when you don’t listen to her.” In other words, she uses her emotional relationship with the child for leverage.
Dads are more likely to remind a child of the social implications of selfish or rude behavior. He might say, “No one’s gonna want to play with you if you keep that up?”
Sometimes the importance of dads is just plain common sense.
Children whose dads are involved in school do better in school and earn higher wages later.
Girls with dads who are close to them are less likely to become sexually active early.
Even when dads can’t afford to pay child support, being involved in their kids’ lives has a positive effect on their kids.
Recent studies by the University of Michigan reveal that dads are incredibly important for kid’s psychological and intellectual development.
According to the study, “children of highly involved fathers show increased cognitive competence, increased empathy, enhanced school performance, greater motivation to succeed, enhanced social development and self-esteem, less sex-stereotyped beliefs, stronger sexual identity and character, and more intrinsic motivation.”
It also showed that dads who spent more time with their kids could help keep their kids out of trouble, just because they spent time with them.
“Children of highly involved fathers have fewer psychological and behavioral problems, are less likely to become delinquent, and are less likely to use drugs.”
Schedule one on one time. Take them out to eat, just you and them, or take them to do something they like. If you can’t take you guy fishing or take your girl on a “daddy-date,” at least take them along some time when you have to go shopping of to the bank or whatever and use part of that time to ask them how things are going. It will let them know that you’re interested in them.
Sit with them once in a while just before bed and talk about their day. It’s just important that there are times that you turn off the TV, put down the newspaper, and give your kids your undivided attention.
Show affection. Even if older kids whine and complain about it, kids need hugs and encouraging words from their dad. But maybe you shouldn’t embarrass them too much in front of their friends.
They say that it’s important to take your kids to work. Obviously that may not always be possible or it could be a challenge at least. I can’t imagine taking one of my kids to school for an entire day of teaching.
On the other hand, there were times when my dad took us out to the air freight center at the airport. Maybe it was to run an errand of pick up a paycheck or a schedule on one of his days off. My kids beg to get to play with art supplies in my classroom on a Saturday or in the summer.
It’s a way for them to get a peek into your world and feel like they know about your life away from home.
Stay connected when you have to be away. Try to call them, or if you’re going to call your wife anyway, get the kids on the phone and talk to them a little too. It reminds them that they’re important to you.
If you know where your kids play and know a few of their friends, you’ll have more to talk about and more interesting conversations.
None of us is going to be able to be “Super Dad,” but if you just make an effort to spend more than twenty minutes a week with each of our kids, we just might change the world.
Ted Mallory lives in Charter Oak and teaches at Boyer Valley Schools in Dunlap. ‘Ted’s Column’ has appeared weekly in the Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper since 2002. If you’d like to see any of Ted’s editorial cartoons bigger and brighter, you can visit http://tmal.multiply.com/photos/album/2
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Bird of Paradise
I'm always trying to use the "Macro" feature on my camera to pay homage to Georgia O'Keefe. This flower is near my Brother's home in Suprise, Arizona. Ya gotta love the orange and red, it's so Arizona!
Cactus Flowers
When in Santa Fe, be sure to visit the Georgia O'Keefe museum. Here's me and my girls on our visit last week.
And of course, here is one of O'Keefe's famous poppies. I wish you could see the New Mexican landscape around Santa Fe and Taos- it looks EXACTLY like she painted it, You'd never believe it till you see it in person.Thursday, June 07, 2007
Take me out to the ball game
Guess I'm terrified of leaving on vacation with gas prices the way they are.See more of Ted's political cartoons at http://tmal.multiply.com/photos/album/2
Take me out to the ball game
Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper — Schleswig Leader, Thursday, June 7, 2007 – Page 3
Have you ever been to a Major league baseball game? At Chase field in Phoenix, the concessions areas have the feel of a typical large indoor shopping mall. This contemporary temple of America’s pastime has a retractable roof and is air conditioned. Of course, special Diamonbacks fans not only have sky boxes, the even have a pool.
I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve only been to two major league parks. As much as I love my D’Backs, I prefer their division rival’s home park, Dodger Stadium. This place is situated in Chavez Ravine in such a way so that the city is to your back and the ball field itself is sort of hugged by the hills. Griffith park is not far away. Palm trees and sea breezes contribute ambience.In these places world class athletes ply their trades. Some, like the Red Sox’s Kurt Schilling analyze their performances and those of their opponents meticulously, others like the Giant’s Barry Bonds pump themselves full of steroids. All of them endure months of grueling training and years in the minor leagues. Their skills are honed to such a fine degree that their teams have decided to pay them millions of dollars.
This is a far cry from watching 4-8 year old girls playing Tee-Ball. This year, we had the good fortune of having both a 5 year old and an 8 year old playing on the same team.
When our 5 year old found out that not only was Charter Oak going to field a girl’s tee-ball team after all, but they were opening it up to TK (Transitional Kindergarten) through Third grade, she was jumping off the walls. Her very first question was would she get a hat.
Naturally, it was up to her 8 year old sister to share with her all of her well seasoned years of wisdom and experience in the sport.
In major league baseball, most of the mitts are brown or black. The Japanese have even added the technological advancement of polarized, transparent plastic where the webbing used to be, so that players can see the ball coming without the sun interfering.
In girls’ t-ball, most of the mitts are pink. Most of the ones that aren’t are black with pink trim or white with pink trim. Come to think of it, a lot of the batting helmets are pink too. The Dodgers don’t have holes in the back of their helmets for pony tails either.
In pro baseball some of the exciting plays happen when runners jump or slide in order to touch the base and avoid the baseman. In t-ball, there always seems to be someone who runs as hard as they can, completely oblivious of the bases. In pro ball, no one ever keeps running from home plate on to the girls bathroom.
In pro-ball, runners lead-off from their base, sometimes they even steal a base. T-Ball girls sometimes dance and twirl (or maybe wiggle a little potty-dance). Often they’re happy to just sit down on the base and play in the dirt or pick at the grass. Don’t think this is something that only runners do, plenty of outfielders can spend much of the game this way.
I’m never quite sure that I understand what ballplayers chant when they engage in dugout cheers and chatter. I swore that at the last game I was at, along with the usual “We are the Bobcats, the mighty, mighty bobcats,” I swore I heard something along these lines-
“We don’t play with Barbies, no no, nothing like that-
We just like to play with balls and bats!”
Now, that may be somewhat true during games, but I can tell you as the parent of two of these athletes, sometimes they don’t even wait until they get home- they break out the Barbies and/or Bratts as soon as they get back in the van.
You’ve seen professional baseball players celebrating after a game with Gatorade, beer, or champaign- depending on how far they’ve made it in the season, but kids just want candy and pop.
Pro ball players follow statistics religiously. And rightly so, not only their team’s standings, but their own careers depend on them. In t-ball all you count is the number of ups and the number of half hours that have past- sometimes you bother with innings.
The most important part of the game is slapping hands and shouting “Good game!” to your opponents in two big lines when it’s all over. If only all competition ended like that.
Of course, between school programs, Dance recitals, doctor's appointments, and leaving to visit family down in Phoenix- the Mallory girls only actually played in one real game this year. Grace was in two, Ellen, the 5 year old who was SO excited, only one. But we're already excited about next season!
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Yuck Yuck Yuck
A friend of mine is the director of a summer drama/fine arts festival. Had this idea. So I threw it together for him. Hope it works. Suppose he needed a line drawing, but I haven't got time, so ta da- PhotoShop to the rescue!
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Fahrenheit 451
| Category: | Books |
| Genre: | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Author: | Ray Bradbury |
Bradbury deals with teen violence, war, shallow entertainment and "info-tainment," the speed of modern life, consumerism, commercialism, sound-bite politics, endless and unjustified war, divorce, fascism, alienation and a million other things that we struggle with here in the 21st century. It really is frightening how prophetic he was- how much we've become like the world of the future he describes. Wide-screen High Definition, interactive TVs, iPods, well, except that everybody drives VW Beetles instead of SUVs!
The strongest message, I believe, is not so much against censorship, as it is Bradbury's scathing indictment of our society as consumers- we want to be pacified and entertained, we don't like anything that challenges us or makes us reflect on what is really meaningful. Who gives a crap about genocide in Darfur or social injustice, or political corruption when poor rich actresses are being forced into rehab?!
Of course, if you've never heard anything about this book before, I may as well tell you that it mainly deals with censorship and reading. It's short, fast paced and exciting. Hope you're not afraid of robot spider dogs with hypodermic needles filled with poison, or of fire!
I encourage EVERYONE to buy a copy and read this book. Our society depends on it.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Trying to get ahead of myself for vacation
Editorial Cartoon for the June 14, 2007 Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper and Schleswig Leader.Wow, these guys were hard to caricature. I'm still worried that my Fred Thompson looks too much like Jack Cafferty on CNN. My Al Gore has come a LONG way- I did a pretty weak one back in January. Gore has my vote, although, between the three of them, I'd most like to have a President Jack Cafferty!
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