Monthly Archives: January 2008

Washington Post Article on local school email lists

Musings, , ,

The Washington Post featured a front page article about school email lists this morning. I thought I’d find it more interesting than it really was because of my long history with managing school email lists, first Bradleynet, then Pylenet; and because I now belong to a list that is mentioned in the article (and remember the discussion it describes very well as I am friends two of the debaters).

I’ve been a member of too many email lists to count, and they are pretty much all the same. You have people who think it should not be moderated. You have people who think it needs to be moderated more than it is. You have the entire spectrum of political correctness/incorrectness. You have people who threaten to unsubscribe if certain things are posted and those who get upset if certain things are not posted. At least the school lists don’t have the grammar police.

The article mentions a PTSA (past?) president who thinks the email list belongs to her and not the school. While I think she is very wrong, I know how protective I felt about Bradleynet. I had a hard time letting it go. So if that is the reason the woman in question thinks the list belongs to her, I’ll have to admit that I understand it, but somehow I don’t think that was the reason.

I don’t envy those names mentioned in this article. I think that this is one area that does not need news coverage. Email list managers have enough with which to deal without their schools and lists mentioned in the Washington Post.

The comments are almost more interesting than the article, and, in a way, mirror exactly what the article mentions. That with a few keystrokes a person can add to (or detract from) a discussion. It has nothing to do with elitism or unenlightened generations. It has to do with common sense and self-restraint.

Wrestling tournament hangover

Wrestling, , ,

This morning I woke up with a near-migraine complete with nausea. I was also dehydrated. Bright lights hurt my eyes. My back hurt, up in-between my shoulder blades. If I’d consumed copious amounts of alcohol last night it would have made sense, but all I did yesterday was hang out at a wrestling tournament. For thirteen and a half hours we sat and watched high school boys compete for medals.

I’m not sure if the headache was a result of having only drank one cup of coffee that morning, not drinking nearly enough water during the day, skipping dinner for the second day in a row, the set up during the finals (one large mat set up in the center of the gym with a single lamp shining down on the center of the mat and no other lights burning in the gym — it looked like a scene for a Rocky movie without the ropes and smoke), or all of the above.  I swear I drank no alcohol last night. I could barely make it up the stairs to fall into bed much less open a bottle of wine.

The team came in a distant second. We had three wrestlers in the finals, two of whom won first place. We had several others with 3rd through 6th place spots. Andrew got 5th place.

Lessons learned: drink lots of water and bring healthy snacks, not only for Andrew, but for myself as well.

Confessions in a primary year

Politics, , , ,

I’m not really very interested in politics – not even during election years. Oh, I usually have mild opinions about who I want for president, but not usually until the primaries are over. I don’t always vote in the primaries – especially if I know little about the folks running. And the past election? The one where George Junior won — again? I didn’t know much about John Kerry except that he was running against Bush and I wanted Bush the hell out of office so of course I voted for Kerry.

This year probably won’t be much different, however I do have a somewhat strong opinion about the primaries. I’d like for Hillary Clinton to win. I’ve liked her since the beginning (and I like Bill, too) and she only fell out of favor with me after I saw Primary Colors because it portrayed her as being power-hungry, but I got over it within 6 months.

Hearing one of her town-hall meetings from New Hampshire today made me even more positive about voting for her. Besides the fact that I agreed with every answer she gave, she also correctly pronounced nearly every word and self-corrected the ones she didn’t pronounce right the first time.

I have to admit that I know little about the others running for the democratic nomination. I meant to read Obama’s books, but never got around to it. I’d subscribed to Edward’s podcasts for a while after the last election – mostly to find out how his wife was doing, but have not followed him at all in the past year or so.

Of course I will support whomever wins the democratic nomination, but I’m hoping, right now, that it is Hillary. My mom (an Obama supporter) chastised me for my support of Clinton, asking pointedly, “Is it because you really like her or is it because she’s a woman?”

I calmly said, “I support her. Besides, I’m not ready for a president younger than I am*.”

So, there you have it. It all boils down to vanity. And ageism.

*When my mom and I spoke, I didn’t even know that Edwards was in the running.