today's required reading
I've been pretty busy at work today, so light posting. However, I have some great reading for you today.
Alex Mauldin teaches at an Army post in Germany, home of much of the 1st Armored Division. He writes:
bq. Many of the seniors have spent this final year in high school with one of their parents in Iraq. Think of how tough that must be. Think of all that a typical senior has to deal with during those last nine months -- earning their credits, choosing a college, prom, etc -- and then have their father be in a war zone. A very, very tough situation.
The Army came through with a way to help those parents "attend" the graduation. Alex documented the ceremony and took some photos. One of which made me cry. Graduation in a time of war.
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Bill is at it again. This time, he attends a protests and manages to interview a squirming Michael Berg.
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Lt. Smash wants to know : Do you know who is teaching your children?
Remember, I said required reading. There will be a test later.
Comments
Holy effing.....oh wait....no suprise.
I had a history teacher like that in high school, convinced that the outcome in SEAsia was a great victory. Even in my addled high school lefty phase I wondered about those boat people and why they were leaving.
The answer from commieteach was that those were bad people, and they were eluding justice (I suppose this meant not getting hit by the bullets as they were straffed)
This teacher was the first place I heard the term "false conciousnesss" in reference to the escapees from the socialist utopia.
Posted by: Ken Talton | June 7, 2004 04:38 PM
Smash's piece is terrifying, if not entirely surprising. I wonder if she airbrushes people out of the photos in her history books (when they fall out of favor with the Central Committee, of course).
Posted by: Sean M. | June 8, 2004 12:35 AM
Loved the graduation piece. When I was a kid I thought everything great had been invented--cars, planes, TV. Something like this would have been barely possible 20 years ago; now it's not uncommon. I always remember the thrill I had a few years ago when I put my mom (who was nearly deaf and couldn't talk on the phone) in a chatroom with my sister back in Jersey one night. After swearing she wasn't interested in computers she banged away on the keyboard for an hour, laughing and having a great time. I felt like Superman.
Posted by: Brainster | June 8, 2004 12:50 AM
The 1st Cavalry Division and supporting units did the same thing for schools all over central Texas these past few weeks. I can't tell you which was better, seeing my daughter walk across the stage, or those moments of thunderous applause when we cheered with a soldier in Baghdad who watched his son receive his degree, and another airman who saw his kid sister graduate.
Posted by: Dave in Texas | June 8, 2004 08:01 PM