Baltimore

"…I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity. And so in a real sense our nation’s summers of riots are caused by our nation’s winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention."
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr


Back in August I wrote a post on racial inequality in America.  It is a subject I am passionate about and one I have discussed in detail with my class this semester.  In August I hoped there would be change, and yet here we are again.  Another city in the US filled with protests and riots.  Another example of people finally breaking under the strain of inequality.  I am at a loss for words, but others are not. Below are a few quotes with links to original articles that are discussing what is going on in Baltimore.


"What's crucial to understand, as Baltimore residents take to the streets in long-simmering frustration, is that their general grievances are valid regardless of how this case plays out."  (article continues on to outline just some of the horrific police misconduct that has happened in Baltimore over the last several years)
-The Brutality of Police Culture in Baltimore (via the Atlantic)

"Over the past four years, more than 100 people have won court judgments or settlements related to allegations of brutality and civil rights violations [ against the Baltimore Police Department]. Victims include a 15-year-old boy riding a dirt bike, a 26-year-old pregnant accountant who had witnessed a beating, a 50-year-old woman selling church raffle tickets, a 65-year-old church deacon rolling a cigarette and an 87-year-old grandmother aiding her wounded grandson .... And in almost every case, prosecutors or judges dismissed the charges against the victims—if charges were filed at all.

When nonviolence is preached as an attempt to evade the repercussions of political brutality, it betrays itself. When nonviolence begins halfway through the war with the aggressor calling time out, it exposes itself as a ruse. When nonviolence is preached by the representatives of the state, while the state doles out heaps of violence to its citizens, it reveals itself to be a con."
- Nonviolence as Compliance (via the Atlantic)

"Why do you see destructive rioting and looting? It's not because people think it's the best way to get things done. It's because the people have finally come to realize that no matter what they do, nothing gets done. No matter how loud they scream, the system still crushes them under its weighty wheels."
-An article on white American's response to Baltimore

 I hope you take the time to read the full articles, and please share with me any you think I should read as well.  As a country, we cannot get better unless we truly understand the problem.
 

Just Keep Writing

This morning I read two blog posts talking about how blogging is dead.  I stopped to think on it for a second, like I usually do when I read about the death of blogging and what that means since, you know, I still do it, and this morning I zeroed in on how often I read blogs anymore. The answer is not very often at all.  The fact that I am telling you this story based on me reading two blog  posts this morning that contained multiple paragraphs full of honest to god words in a single day is pretty unusual.

I don't know what it means... maybe it is a signal I am moving more and more away from this past time I have loved for so long, or maybe it is what other bloggers are saying, that it is more evidence of the death of blogs everywhere.  Maybe I no longer read because so few people are still writing.  And maybe I have a harder time writing because in a lot of ways blogging is a conversation, even while it is your personal site and your personal story. We feed off of each other, picking up ideas from one post to spin off our own unique thoughts and create our own.

Anyway, I don't have much to say on it really.  But in years past I would have written down at least these few thoughts, adding to the conversation, so I decided to do that again today.  Just talking for the sake of talking, or blogging for the sake of blogging.  Hoping someone is listening, and that this post might possibly contribute to someone elses unique addition to the conversation. 

Because Now Seems Like the PERFECT Time for Home Renovations

I have more tball pictures/stories to share, but I looked back and realized this blog has been all tball all the time lately (WELCOME TO OUR LIVES!) so I thought I would go a different direction. (Tball pictures later this week, because= obviously)

So we (Nick) have been talking for awhile now about widening the entryway between our kitchen and dining room.  I thought it sounded like a good plan.  One for "someday".  I mean, currently we are insane with work and school and tball and birthday party planning.  It didn't really occur to me that he meant NOW.

He totally meant now.

So Saturday night we sent Henry off to my parents for a sleep over so we could begin the project.  We actually worked in the yard first and as we came inside I was still thinking we would do more talking/planning vs. demolition.

Maybe there was some denial going on, now that I think about it.

This is with the wall completely out. We (Nick) are currently re-framing the entry way to make it basically a much more open doorway.  We already love it.

Just IMAGINE how great it will be with drywall and what not... which we really need to get on since there is a party here in three weeks celebrating SOMEONE turning six.

In other random news, I bought the paper products and tablecloths for Henry's birthday party and the check out lady asked if I was having a tax deductible party.  Um... No?  I said it was for my son' birthday and she looked shocked and asked how many kids I have. I decided to NOT mention the working cannon from last years party and just mumbled something about having a lot of family.   For the record, I do REALLY think we are down sizing this year, although Nick still has three weeks to decide to do something insane.  This week he tore down and rebuilt a wall, so three weeks is still a world of time.
 

Doing All the Things...

So yeah. Life is sorta overwhelming at the moment.

Remember when I said tball was going great and not really that stressful this year?  Well... that's still true in a way, but tball added with work, and kindergarten, and the wrapping up of the semester for both mine and Nick's classes, and home renovations, and birthday party planning sorta results in that feeling of drowning in ALL THE THINGS. Our house is an absolute disaster and I haven't cooked dinner in lord only knows how long.  Seriously... like, did I cook last week at all?  Nope.  Not one single time.   Add in that it's allergy season and we are all feeling sorta like crap, AND the fact that my glasses broke yesterday (MY GLASSES!) and we end up in a situation where our entire household is running on steam and adrenaline and I am not exactly sure what to do about it.  I mean, beyond just keep going.

So that's what we are doing.  We are rolling with it.  I am trying my best to get home from work in time to give Henry some down time before we shuttle off to tball.  I am delegating to my TAs as much as possible for my class, I am trying to be focused with my time at work so I am as efficient as possible, but it's wearing me thin.  It's wearing all three of us thin.  I am looking forward to some things dropping off my plate, and first up is the teaching which will wrap up in two and a half weeks.  Next Henry finishes kindergarten (FINISHES KINDERGATEN!) in 28 school days.  Then... well then life sounds pretty awesome.  We officially booked our trip to Disney and will be out of town for three entire weeks this summer.  For now we will just keep going and look ahead to the days where I can maybe cook dinner once or twice a week.  Maybe next month...

For now, here is a picture of Henry from his tball game last night.  The Cardinals are 3-0!  It's an excited time.
 

Game Ball

We are seriously loving our tball team this spring.  It helps that we are 2-0, but really I think we just have a great group of kids, coaches and parents that are coming together to make it fun.  We had games on Friday and Saturday this weekend and in the second game Henry got an out on 2nd base and earned the game ball.

As Coach was talking about who was getting the game ball, a boy who he had seen play for three seasons and keeps getting better, and who got a big out on 2nd, Henry started to get the feeling it might be him...

That smile!  He is one of the littler kids on the team this season since we have 5 and 6 year olds, but he is growing every single game and it is so fun to watch.

The winner of the game ball always counts down the final huddle at the end of the game.


Love this boy.

 

Easter at the Farm

So Easter happened!  And I am finally blogging about it!  Settle in for a seriously long picture post!  (Or... you know, just click away now.  Your choice. I will never know!)

Easter morning basket fun. 

A double decker couch, because it's awesome. 

Pokemon... some reason

Puppets! We have a thing for puppets around here.  Super Kitty has become a fast family favorite.

Easter afternoon we spent at my parents farm.  They used to always to a big Easter with lots of extended family, but the last couple of years we decided not to do that... holidays are hard after really hard loss.  But this year it felt right to invite people back to the farm and celebrate together.  Here are my sweet parents with the farm house in the background.  You can sorta see all the tables set up. There were 30 people and it was truly wonderful to spend the holiday with so many people we love.

Now, to all the PICTURES.  Henry in his Easter Best

Cici in hers!

 Cousins

 Great Mawmaw with the babies and Super Kitty... I love this picture so much

Fence pictures... an Easter tradition

 Candice and Lucas

 Another tradition... it will be fun to line up these holiday pictures of the two of them in a few years and watch him grow!

 family

 Carole and Nana

 Family

 Grandaddy and Great Grandma

 Grammy and Grandpa

 Wil and Gayla

 Boo and Chris

 Mamaw, Natalia and Aunt Josie

 So. Jealous.

 Grandaddy and GrandVal

 THE HUNT BEGINS!

 There are only the two kids,  and we weren't sure there were enough eggs...

 Cici on the hung

 Turner out they each filled three baskets and had to dump them and go back out and keep searching

 That's right.  Three baskets each

 I just like the hunting pictures

 So I am going to keep sharing them

Yeah... there were plenty

 The large tub should have tipped us off

 Carole and Cheryl

 Marlene, Carole and Cheryl

 My adorable parents

 Mom with Mamaw and Aunt Josie

 Nick with Super Kitty

 Us with Grandaddy and GrandVal (and tweety bird)

The babies with Natalia

 And that's all!  Happy Easter (One week later...)