Seems to me there are too damned many things going on that I don't write about.
Seems I need to get my writin' chops up.
These are similar to but not exactly the same as pork chops.
(seems to me I said that somewhere else, one time).
Anyway, I wasn't exactly intending to go vegetarian - so chops of any sort
or description sound mighty tasty at this point.

Is writing a substitute for food? (I might be on to something here...)

I have no idea what this will turn into, if anything.
I think I'll just relax, and enjoy the ride.
If my hair turns white overnight I'll know who to blame....

- this is your captain speaking
have a safe flight.

Captain Midnight

just let me laugh when it's funny
and when it's sad, let me cry

this is the single biggest reason that I never went to "school" for anything.

I am terrified of this volume of debt.

I so agree!! I was walking home from school in all weather with bullies trailing and the whole thing far before I was 11. LIfe experience. It helped give me the tools I needed to be an adult. Now, my kids haven't been able to walk since we live so far away, but they sure would be if we were close!

Aren't interns generally still in college? I had to do volunteer work along my career line while taking classes in order to get real experience. A good idea. Now if they've already done that and graduated, then no, they need to be paid!

The great classic artists are started as interns to paid artists. There is a lot of value in it. Too many are shoved into jobs where they don't know the least bit about how the job really works. Too many of those are managers who started as managers instead of as workers and screw everything up. *sigh*

Ah, well although I agree people NEED to get OFF their phones while they drive, I do tend to disagree with too much government mandate/interference. So make the punishment harsher, but yes, some people can do 20 things while they drive and still drive in a very safe, focused manner. Why punish them because others can't? Should they also make it illegal to eat while driving? How about smoking? Or putting on makeup, which I've seen. You can't legislate common sense, unfortunately.

Drunk driving is illegal, also. It doesn't stop anything.

I did an internship all through college, and through Med School after that-for a national politician. Just under six years in total. I got that internship by sheer hard work, not by some special back-hand favor. My Mom was a single mom, widowed young with two special needs kids to raise into adulthood. We went hungry more days than I can count. My college education was paid for with my inheritance from my Dad, and some scholarship money based on my grades-from the government. I left home at 17, and have rarely looked back. People have the assumption that a college education buys you better opportunities, Not always. Life is harsh out in the real world. Some of these wealthier kids have never had to work for something their whole lives-they wouldn't know a 9-5 job if it got up and bit them in the backside. Life is what you make it. Mine hasn't been all roses, but I'm doing the best that I can.

The other part of the story is corporate America and how it enslaves people. I really wish folks would wake up to that. The rich get richer, all while the poor get poorer. There used to be a heartland America, and a middle class America-and an American 'Dream'. Neighbors helping neighbors-that kind of thing. That dream is now all but a pipe one, and it is more about one hog waiting on another. It surprises me, given the patriotism here, that more Americans aren't marching in the streets and creating a stench. Then again, if it doesn't affect them personally, why should they be bothered?.

Great entry!.

You're not missing anything. Fear is taking over the workings of society.

When I was growing up, I always walked to school. During my earliest years, my aunt walked me to school. She was just a few years older than I and attended the same school.

Fast forward: I never let my daughter walk to school alone when she attended the elementary school just a mile away. I thought about it, but our neighborhood is not pedestrian friendly. So, more often than not I drove her to school. Now my daughter's school is seven miles away, so walking isn't an option.

As for "stranger danger"... All of my abusers were people I knew; that my mother knew. While the danger exists, I often think it's being blown out of proportion. Every friend was once a stranger.

In our school district, all the schools start at the same time. If the district would change the start time for middle and high schools, they could fulfill their community service units by walking younger children to school before they had to be in class.

I think your suggestion of having the junior high or high school students do some sort of community service by walking with the kids is a good one. I would have complained as a high school student, but I'm one of those rare women that is allergic to children. I know most of my friends wouldn't have minded at all.

I'm not sure how far apart we are in age, but I know I took the bus to school when I was little, but I did walk to the bus stop with my friends without supervision. I did have a friend who lived close enough to the school to walk everyday, and I do remember how much fun it was to walk back to her house with her on the days I joined her after school.

It does seem a little alarmist. I can see arguments in both directions, but if it's true, if society collectively keeps freaking out over every possible threat we're going to end up locked in our houses, doors bolted shut and completely cut off from each other.

Your observations are right about, "WDC being similar, but somewhat changed".

Five years here and now I feel the need for some distance, at least from all the blog entries of the past. So, I'm poking around slowly, seeing what is new. Welcome back.