Nablopomo

Just Not My Day

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

Totally had one post written and hit delete instead of save on my phone. Lost it. Totally sucks. Not that is was some great intellectual post or anything, but it was a complete post. I was trying to delete a pic from the post because wordpress for iPhone posts my pictures upside down and I was deleting the pic and well it just all got messed up.

Today we ventured to the beach and after buying our beach toys and some cheap beach mats, it started to rain about 40 minutes into the 60 minute drive from Orlando to Cocoa Beach. We trudged on and were going to have fun anyway. We did have fun (for a whole 40 minutes). It was overcast and windy and there was a clear rip current making swimming in the ocean with kids-impossible. So we built a sand castle, picked up sea shells and head back to Orlando for some sun.

Of course when we arrived back in Orlando, it had rained here too. It was windy and cloudy and the kids wanted to swim in the pool. So we same and were chilled. We hung out in the hot tub (for a long time). We are on day 4 without naps and without eating as often as we should and this translates into whiny kids and grown-ups. But we are having fun and it’s been nice to have some time together as a family. We are heading home tomorrow and then preparing for Thanksgiving. Being busy never stops.


Here we are on the alligator


These fish were begging in sync…so funny

Who Doesn’t Love A Brush With Death

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

We are in Orlando–I was down for a conference and the whole family tagged along.  While there is a ton to do in Orlando, this being the end of the year near Christmas, we decided not to do Disney (plus we were just there in July when we visited Cali) and to keep it simple.  We opted for Gatorland (and totally didn’t correct them when they assumed Zoë wasn’t 3) and it cost us less for all 3 than it would have for one of us for Universal Studios or Disney.

We saw a guy “wrestle” an alligator and then Noah and I sat on the Alligator–it was a bit surreal. Now we are eating dinner and getting ready to go watch a movie by the pool.

Being with the family is awesome

“Reason Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

I had the pleasure of listening to Leonard Pitts, Jr speak today (the title of this post are his words and this post is inspired by the talk he gave today).  I might have been living under a rock when the Tyler Clementi suicide happened.  I did post some thought on cyberbullying and bullying in general, but this takes the case and is really just one example of how the Internet (which I love) has become a way for hate and ignorance to be spewed without any thought that there are real people involved in these events.

Clint McCance, a school board member of a district in Arkansas, wrote the following on his facebook page on “Spirit Day” when people were encouraged to wear purple to show their support of LGBT folks.

Seriously, they want me to wear purple because five queers committed suicide. The only way im wearin it for them is if they all commit suicide. I cant believe the people of this world have gotten this stupid. We aer honoring the fact that they sinned and killed themselves because of their sin. REALLY PEOPLE.

He responded to a comment on his page with this,

I would disown my kids they were gay. They will not be welcome at my home or in my vicinity. I will absolutely run them off. Of course my kids will know better. My kids will have solid christian beliefs. See it infects everyone.

The Internet, while totally awesome, has gotten out of control in so many ways.  It’s not that McCance and others (just read the comments to news articles in your hometown newspaper) haven’t always been hateful and judgmental people, it’s just that they wouldn’t have said these things to someone, especially if they didn’t know them.  But now…many people don’t think twice about saying something outlandish about someone they don’t even know.  It’s just insane.  I would never think to “flame” someone in a comments section for their opinion–no matter how much I disagree.  I might disagree respectfully with some facts, but I wouldn’t just call them names.  That’s just uncivilized.

According to the “right” Wikipedia is biased to the left and therefore, they created Conservapedia with the tag line “the trustworthy encyclopedia” (Trying not to judge–but really).  I had never heard of Conservapedia before today.  I love that they call themselves “trustworthy” I again am using the example used my Mr. Leonard Pitts, Jr.  Conservapedia says the following as its definition of Liberal

A liberal (also leftist) is someone who rejects logical and biblical standards, often for self-centered reasons. There are no coherent liberal standards; often a liberal is merely someone who craves attention, and who uses many words to say nothing.[1] Liberalism began as a movement for individual liberties, but today is increasingly statist and, as in Europe, socialistic.

Wikipedia says the following of Conservative

Conservatism (Latin: conservare, “to preserve”)[1] is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism and seek a return to the way things were.[2][3] The first established use of the term in a political context was by François-René de Chateaubriand in 1819, following the French Revolution.[4] The term has since been used to describe a wide range of views.

I don’t know about you, but it’s pretty clear to me where the bias is.  These examples (thanks again Mr. Pitts, Jr) are prime examples of what is wrong in our world and sadly, I see no real change in sight.  The internet has opened a forum for people to speak anonymously (relatively speaking–I don’t have to worry about someone hitting me if I offend them).  I’m not sure where we go from here as a society but we have to teach our children about this new modality of communication and the implications it has and that while we are now communicating with a screen that there are real people on the other end and they are people who feel and love and care.

Explaining Love

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 1 Comment

Noah is at the age now where he is starting to really care about other people.  He has always been a kind and gentle soul, but I have seen it develop and morph.  He has a “girlfriend”–I know he is totally too young but it is the absolute cutest thing in the world.  We were driving to school yesterday and I brought up love.  He said he didn’t love Sophie.  So we talked about love and how there are different kinds of love–even though our inadequate language only has one word for it.  I explained that there is the love you have for your family and that is the strongest and most important love and that most other love will not come close to rivaling the love one has for their family.  And Noah talked about how much he loved me, his dad and his sister.  And we talked about how much his grandparents loved him and his uncles, etc.

I then said we also come to love many of our friends, but that it’s a bit of a different kind of love.  But that when we love our friends we really look out for them and would be really really sad if something bad every happened to them and we would want to protect them.  He was so cute–he said “like one time when Sophie was hanging upside down on the climber and not holding on with any hands and it made me a little scared because she could fall.”  I said “yeah.”

“I love Sophie, mom.  She loves me too.”

They keep each other warm.  They hold hands at school and help each other get their coats on, etc.  The school has drawn the line at them being bathroom buddies.  They petition us for a sleep over.  They have been inseparable since the first day they met in Aug 2009.  The innocence of “love.”

One Step Closer

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

Yesterday was the culmination of my doctoral study.  I had to orally defend my comprehensive exams.  For those of you who are wondering what comps are, they are pure hell.  That is what they are.  Not really, but I imagine they are close.  I had a committee of 3 professors and they each gave me question to answer and I had 2 weeks to answer.  The questions cover the entire work of research and content that I have studied as part of my doctoral program (which included information from my Master’s as well).  I read 70+ articles and 15+ books over the 6 week period to answer the questions in 15-20 page papers.  It was intense.  Then I waited two weeks and then I had to defend my answers.

It’s surreal.  It’s a great intellectual conversation but they challenge and question what you wrote, included and didn’t include.  It was certainly an intense 90 minutes, but I did well and PASSED.  This means I get to continue on and finish my PhD program.  If you don’t pass your comps–you get a chance to revise–you are not allowed to go on to work on your dissertation.  I’m happy to have this part done.  I am not almost officially ABD (All but dissertation).  There is a large group (80%) of folks who never get their dissertations finished.  I will not be that person.  I am certainly going to finish.  I have one more semester of course work–one of which is to write my dissertation proposal. The end is near.  I am glad that I will be done soon and have my PhD, but it’s a ton of work and I don’t know how I’d do it if my kids were older.  It requires so much time and now it’s a bit easier because they don’t have games and practices, etc.  But soon they will and I’ll be happy that school is over.

But for right now, I am going to enjoy my moment of celebration of passing the first hurdle.  Yay.  Now I just have to publish a few articles and present at a conference or two.  Then I’ll be ready to take academia by storm.